A comeback led to a come up, as the kids say, for the USC Trojans, who find themselves ranked at No. 1 for the first time in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25 after a come-from-behind win propelled them to the men's ITA National Team Indoor title over the weekend in Madison, Wis.

The Trojans, who won their fourth team indoor title and first since 2012, came from 3-1 down against Michigan in the semifinals to earn a 4-3 victory. USC then defeated North Carolina in the final, 4-1, ultimately overcoming some illnesses and the unfamiliarity of indoor tennis to take title.

 

"Our guys take it [the No. 1 ranking] as a title of hard work," said first-year head coach Brett Masi. "They all very well know that they'd rather be No. 1 at the end of May than in February."

 

For Americans Brandon Holt and Riley Smith, a pair of fourth-year seniors who grew up in Southern California, the ITA title and the top spot in the rankings are both stepping stones on the way to their ultimate goal.

 

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"They just are very driven," explained Masi. "They haven't reached their goals of what they've wanted to do when they came to USC. They're dedicated to getting the team to win a national title... When you come to be a Trojan, it's all about trying to win that national title. There's 21 of them up there, and that's the reason you sign up for this."

 

As semifinalists, the Wolverines' consolation prize is their highest-ever Tennis Channel/USTA ranking, leaping from No. 11 to No. 6 to make their Top-10 debut.

 

Oklahoma State was the most notable upward mover on the women's side, authoring their own comeback victory from 3-1 down, against Pepperdine, to climb from 14th to 11th.

 

Each team's point total, specified below, is the sum of its ranking points from the USTA's panel of 14 voters (listed below). Each voter ranked 25 teams from Nos. 1 to 25, with the first-place team receiving 25 points and the last-place team receiving one. For control, the highest and lowest outlying ranking for each team on the ballot was removed. First-place votes were not tallied. The maximum points a team can earn this week is 300.

The weekly rankings will rate the Top 25 men’s and women’s teams in NCAA Division I and will be released each Wednesday on Tennis Channel’s and the USTA’s platforms, including the USTA’s new Top 25 homepage, through the conclusion of the NCAA Championship.

The full voting panel includes: Casey Angle (former Intercollegiate Tennis Association Director of Championships); Jordan Bishop (The News Press; Stillwater, Okla.); Virgil Christian (USTA); Richard Croome (The Eagle; Bryan, Texas); Sonny Dearth (Daily Press; Newport News, Va.); Judy Dixon (former UMass women’s head coach); David Fish (Universal Tennis Ratings); Granger Huntress (Texas College Tennis); Andy Katz (NCAA.com); Bobby Knight (College Tennis Today); Brandon Moglen (Tennis Channel); Peter Smith (former USC men’s head coach); Lisa Stone (Parenting Aces) and Caitlin Thompson (Racquet Magazine).

Men
Rank (Last Week) – Points
1. (5) USC – 300  
2. (2) North Carolina – 288
3. (1) Ohio State – 275
4. (4) Florida – 251
5. (3) Texas – 248
6. (11) Michigan – 244
7. (8) Wake Forest – 216
8. (10) Stanford – 207
9. (12) Columbia – 195
10. (6) Texas A&M – 186
11. (7) Baylor – 179
12. (18) TCU – 171
13. (13) Tennessee – 142
14. (17) UCLA – 137
15. (10) NC State – 136
16. (14) South Carolina – 135
17. (16) California – 116
18. (15) Georgia – 115
19. (T19) Duke – 78
20. (T19) UCF – 75
21. (21) Florida State – 57
22. (22) Mississippi – 52
23. (23) Oklahoma – 28
24. (24) Virginia – 22
T25. (NR) Cornell – 12
T25. (NR) Oklahoma State – 12
Receiving Votes: Arizona 7, Harvard 3, Illinois 1
Dropped Out: Harvard (25)

Women
Rank (Last Week) – Points
1. (1) North Carolina – 300
2. (2) UCLA – 287
3. (3) Stanford – 275
4. (4) Duke – 254
5. (5) NC State – 250
6. (7) Florida State – 233
7. (6) Georgia – 227
8. (8) Texas – 225
9. (9) Princeton – 198
10. (12) Virginia – 185
11. (14) Oklahoma State – 181
12. (10) Pepperdine – 155
13. (11) Ohio State – 145
14. (16) Vanderbilt – 142
15. (15) UCF – 139
16. (13) Michigan – 129
17. (21) Arizona State – 92
18. (19) California – 86
19. (22) Tennessee – 85
20. (17) Georgia Tech – 66
21. (23) Texas A&M – 53
22. (NR) Miami (Fla.) – 40
23. (25) Wake Forest – 39
24. (18) South Carolina – 35
25. (20) USC – 30
Receiving Votes: Notre Dame 17, Florida 7, Old Dominion 6, Washington 5, Alabama 1, Baylor 1, Kansas 1
Dropped Out: Washington (24)

Note: The ITA men's and women's Top 25 polls are available here.

In addition to the polls above, each week this space will highlight the former and current American collegians in the ATP's and WTA's Top 300. The below reflects the rankings released on Feb. 17, 2020, with current college players in bold.

ATP
No. 19 John Isner (Georgia)
No. 56 Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee)
No. 76 Steve Johnson (USC)
No. 113 Marcos Giron (UCLA)
No. 124 Bradley Klahn (Stanford)
No. 159 Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA)
No. 165 JJ Wolf (Ohio State)
No. 182 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Virginia)
No. 227 Chris Eubanks (Georgia Tech)
No. 252 Maxime Cressy (UCLA)
No. 267 JC Aragone (Virginia)
No. 269 Noah Rubin (Wake Forest)
No. 275 Jenson Brooksby (Baylor)
No. 294 Brandon Nakashima (Virginia)

WTA
No. 50 Danielle Collins (Virginia)
No. 52 Jennifer Brady (UCLA)
No. 95 Kristie Ahn (Stanford)
No. 120 Francesca Di Lorenzo (Ohio State)
No. 130 Nicole Gibbs (Stanford)
No. 179 Robin Anderson (UCLA)
No. 199 Danielle Lao (USC)
No. 258 Catherine Harrison (UCLA)
No. 279 Jamie Loeb (UNC)
 
(Photo courtesy of Josh Dunst/USC Athletics)