The first official women’s team rankings were released late Wednesday afternoon with Florida coming in at No. 1 after finishing last year at No. 3. The Gators return five of six singles starters from a squad that won the SEC last year before stumbling in the NCAA Round of 16 to eventual champion Stanford. Speaking of Stanford they come in at No. 4 with four singles starters returning after the depatures of Carol Zhao (turned pro after junior year) and Krista Hardebeck (graduated). North Carolina checks in at No. 2 despite losing half of their starting lineup however the Tar Heels did add highly touted freshmen Sara Daavettila, Alexa Graham, and Makenna Jones with those three ranked No. 3, 44, and 45 in the singles rankings. Pepperdine is ranked No. 3 with the Waves starting four returning plus they added freshman Ashley Lahey and Fresno State transfer Mayar Sherif Ahmed who are ranked No. 21 and 22 respectively.
If comparing these to last season’s final rankings the biggest risers were Pepperdine (+6) and Georgia Tech (+5) while Virginia (-10) and Cal (-6) dropped the most.
| Rank | School | Final ’16 Rank |
| 1 | Florida | 3 |
| 2 | North Carolina | 4 |
| 3 | Pepperdine | 9 |
| 4 | Stanford | 1 |
| 5 | Oklahoma State | 8 |
| 6 | Georgia | 7 |
| 7 | Ohio State | 6 |
| 8 | California | 2 |
| 9 | Vanderbilt | 5 |
| 10 | Duke | 14 |
| 11 | Georgia Tech | 16 |
| 12 | Miami | 10 |
| 13 | Texas Tech | 15 |
| 14 | Michigan | 11 |
| 15 | Auburn | 12 |
| 16 | South Carolina | 17 |
| 17 | Texas | 20 |
| 18 | USC | 21 |
| 19 | LSU | 18 |
| 20 | Kentucky | 24 |
| 21 | Texas A&M | 19 |
| 22 | Arizona State | 22 |
| 23 | Virginia | 13 |
| 24 | Mississippi State | 23 |
| 25 | UCLA | 25 |
Others Receiving Votes: (Northwestern , Mississippi , Kansas , Wake Forest)
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Ohio State sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo moves up to No. 1 after dominating the fall with titles at the All Americans and National Indoor Intercollegiates while Vanderbilt junior Astra Sharma moves up from No. 19 to No. 2 after making the semifinals at the AAs and NIICs. The No. 3 and No. 4 spots are occupied by freshmen with North Carolina’s Sara Daavettila at No. 3 and UCLA’s Ena Shibahara at No. 4.
Georgia’s Ellen Perez (pro events) and Florida’s Brooke Austin (injury) weren’t ranked due to them not playing any fall collegiate events.
The table below has the top 125 broken down by school, conference, class, and by Universal Tennis Rating.
Singles Rankings (click to view in separate window)
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