by Bobby Knight | Mar 2, 2019 | Blog
Friday was an action-packed day of tennis across the country with a pair of top 7 women’s teams going down while Baylor, Alabama, and a pair of Georgia schools were the big winners on the men’s side.We’ll start in the Battle for LA as No. 32 USC upset crosstown rival No. 5 UCLA 4-1. The non-conference match, which was televised on the Pac-12 Network, saw the Women of Troy jump out to the early 1-0 lead after claiming the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3. USC kept things rolling along in singles and claimed four opening sets. UCLA evened the match at 1-1 with a straight set win by Jada Hart at No. 1 but USC remained in control...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 28, 2019 | Blog
Over the last few days both the ITA and USTA released their weekly rankings. There wasn’t much movement in the USTA/Tennis Channel Top 25 however in the Oracle ITA Top 50 there were several changes. Last week’s ITA rankings used each team’s four best wins but this week’s rankings used each team’s five best wins so that extra data point accounted for some of the movement. The North Carolina women took over the top spot from undefeated Georgia who just defeated them just two weeks ago in the finals of the National Team Indoors. UNC got a ranking bump by having wins over last week’s #3 Duke, #5 UCLA, #7 Vanderbilt, #13 Oklahoma...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 25, 2019 | Blog
A Tennis Channel national audience, along with 1200 fans in the stands at the USTA National Campus, witnessed UCF knocking off ITA No. 48/USTA No. 18 Florida for the first time in school history with a thrilling 4-3 win. The Knights dropped the doubles point and then in singles each team claimed three opening sets. UCF won the first two matches to finish with Natalia Serrano and Rebeka Stolmar winning in straight sets at No. 3 and No. 5 but Florida’s Victor Emma evened it up with a straight set win at No. 4. UCF’s Ksenia Kuznetsova put the Knights in front 3-2 with a 6-2, 7-6 win at No. 2 but Florida’s No. 1 Ida Jarlskog countered with a...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 24, 2019 | Blog
The big top 10 showdown on Saturday took place at Stanford with the No. 4 Cardinal hosting No. 7 Vanderbilt in a rematch of last year’s NCAA Championship Final. Stanford won that match in Winston-Salem 4-3 with some final court drama but this one on Saturday at Stanford was a pretty cut and dry win for the Cardinal. Stanford rolled through doubles only dropping two games each at No. 1 and No. 3 and then they added five first sets in singles with four of them being lopsided 6-1 scores. Melissa Lord made it 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 win over at No. 2 and Emma Higuchi made it 3-0 with a 6-1, 7-6 win at No. 6. Emily Arthbuthnott provided the clincher at No. 4 with...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 23, 2019 | Blog
USC avoided its second three-match losing streak of this young season after knocking off crosstown rival No. 14 UCLA 4-1 in a non-conference tilt at USC’s Marks Stadium. USC struck first by claiming the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 and then the Trojans added four opening sets in singles. USC freshman Jake Sands cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 6 but UCLA freshman Govind Nanda answered with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2. USC senior Logan Smith, who was only playing in his second dual-match of the year, rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 3 and junior Riley Smith clinched at No. 4 with a 6-1, 7-6(3) win. Both teams were playing without their No. 2...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 21, 2019 | Blog
Wednesday was rankings release day with both the ITA and USTA releases its latest rankings. Up until this point all the ITA team rankings have been done by committee but starting with this week and going forward the computers take so that’s why we saw a bunch of swings in this week’s rankings versus prior weeks. The computer rankings used each team’s four best wins while deducting points for losses so that’s why we had a few notable teams not show up in the top 50 (Georgia/Texas A&M). As expected Ohio State is the new men’s No. 1 after running the table at the National Team Indoors while Wake Forest comes in at No. 2....
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