USC Senior Michael Grant
The April 15th CTO/MDTA Division 1 Men’s Coaches Poll has been released and for the second week in a row Peter Smith’s USC Trojans (24-2) have claimed the top spot.
USC will bring a 15 match winning streak into this Friday’s showdown with UCLA and then the following week USC will head to Ojai for the Pac 12 Championships.
COACHES POLL |
ITA RANKINGS
Oklahoma (20-2) moves up from #5 to #2 after knocking off Texas Tech and Baylor last weekend. The Baylor match came down to a 3
rd set at #2 singles which Guillermo Alcorta pulled out with a 6-4 5-7 6-3 win over Julian Lenz. Next up for
Oklahoma is a Sunday tilt with state rival Oklahoma State followed by the Big 12 Tournament in Fort Worth.
UCLA (19-2) checks in at #3 as the Bruins carry an 8 match winning streak into Friday’s match at USC. The following week
UCLA will get a double-bye at the Pac 12 Championships in Ojai and will likely meet USC once again in the finals.
Virginia (19-2) comes in at #4 after a pair of weekend routs over Wake Forest and North Carolina State. The Cavs have now won 10 straight and will look to make it 11 when they visit Blacksburg on Saturday to face state rival Virginia Tech. The following weekend
Virginia heads to Cary, NC for the ACC Tournament.
Ohio State (25-3) fills the #5 spot after following up a loss at Kentucky by edging both Tulsa and Purdue 4-3. This weekend Ohio State hosts Iowa and Nebraska and then the following week the Buckeyes head to East Lansing for the Big 10 Tournament.
Texas (19-3), Georgia (16-6), Baylor (20-5), North Carolina (21-3), and Illinois (18-7) come in at 6-10. Duke (16-5), Texas A&M (21-6), Notre Dame (16-8), Kentucky (17-8), and Cal (14-5) are 11-15. Tennessee (17-9), Florida (13-8), Columbia (18-1), Mississippi State (17-9), and Boise State (23-4) fill the 16-20 spots. Rounding out the final 5 spots are Vanderbilt (14-9), Clemson (18-7), Wake Forest (14-10), Oklahoma State (19-5) and Penn State (19-4).
Also receiving votes but not garnering enough to make this week’s Top 25 are Memphis, Purdue, South Florida, NC State, and Harvard.
The MDTA (Men’s Division 1 Tennis Association) was formed last year to provide a forum for Men’s D1 Coaches to discuss issues that are unique and special to Division 1 Men’s Tennis; for more information about the MDTA you can visit their website at
www.mensdivisiononetennis.org . All Division I Men’s Head Coaches and Assistant Coaches are eligible to vote in the poll though they cannot vote for their respective team. The next coaches poll will be released on April 29th.
