It's good to be orange in the opening Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25 poll of 2022, as the Texas women and Tennessee men reign supreme following ITA Kickoff Weekend.
Coming off a Final Four appearance in 2021, the Volunteer men earned their first-ever No. 1 ranking in this poll, carrying a 6-0 record into a big non-conference matchup vs. No. 6 Ohio State in Columbus on Friday. The defending-NCAA champion Longhorns earned four points shy of the maximum vote total this week as they've opened their title defense 3-0, having not lost a singles or doubles point yet this season.
The South is the region best represented in both the men's and women's opening polls. The SEC leads all men's teams with eight ranked in the Top 25, doubling the next-highest totals of four for both the ACC and Pac-12. The SEC and ACC are tied with six teams each ranked in the women's poll.
Each team's point total, specified below, is the sum of its ranking points from the USTA's panel of 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. This week's poll includes 17 votes, making the maximum number of points available 375.
The 2022 voting panel includes votes from the following representatives: Casey Angle (former Intercollegiate Tennis Association Director of Championships); Virgil Christian (former USTA director of college tennis); Richard Croome (former journalist); Sonny Dearth (Daily Press; Newport News, Va.); Judy Dixon (former UMass women’s head coach); Alex Gruskin (Cracked Racquets); Chris Halioris / Matt Stachowiak (Cracked Racquets); J. Webb Horton (Former Florida Gulf Coast men's head coach); Granger Huntress (Texas College Tennis); Andy Katz (NCAA.com); Bobby Knight (College Tennis Today); Brandon Moglen (Tennis Channel); Lisa Stone (Parenting Aces); Caitlin Thompson (Racquet Magazine); Scott Treibly (USTA contractor); Laura Vallverdu (Between Lines); Dallas Oliver/Shannon Wrege (Tennis Recruiting Network).
Visit the USTA’s Top 25 home page for more information.
Men
Rank (Final 2021 Ranking) – Points
1. (3) Tennessee – 360
2. (2) Baylor – 349
3. (1) Florida – 346
4. (6) TCU – 319
5. (5) Virginia – 309
6. (12) Ohio State – 298
7. (7) USC – 274
8. (10) Georgia – 257
9. (4) Texas – 254
10. (11) Texas A&M – 238
11. (16) Wake Forest – 222
12. (18) Kentucky – 206
13. (13) South Carolina – 204
14. (T21) Stanford – 195
15. (19) Mississippi – 151
16. (9) North Carolina – 143
17. (14) Arizona – 140
18. (17) Michigan – 122
19. (20) Mississippi State – 83
20. (23) Pepperdine – 74
21. (NR) Harvard – 52
22. (24) UCLA – 49
23. (15) UCF – 39
24. (NR) NC State – 38
25. (8) Illinois – 33
Receiving Votes: Northwestern 25, Oklahoma 20, Duke 8, Memphis 8, Miami (Fla.) 6, Oregon 6, Columbia 5, Florida State 5, Notre Dame 4, Cornell 3, Arizona State 2, Georgia Tech 1, South Florida 1
Dropped Out: Arizona State (T21), Northwestern (25)
Women
Rank (Final 2021 Ranking) – Points
1. (1) Texas – 371
2. (3) North Carolina – 349
3. (4) NC State – 319
4. (2) Pepperdine – 317
5. (6) Georgia – 316
6. (13) California – 300
7. (T11) Virginia – 287
8. (7) Ohio State – 237
9. (24) Oklahoma – 227
10. (16) Texas A&M – 210
11. (20) Florida – 209
12. (21) USC – 207
13. (9) Duke – 196
14. (17) Stanford – 155
15. (NR) Auburn – 140
16. (8) Florida State – 125
17. (10) Michigan – 121
18. (5) UCLA – 114
19. (NR) Washington – 110
20. (NR) Old Dominion – 107
21. (T11) UCF – 85
22. (19) Tennessee – 70
23. (14) Baylor – 62
24. (22) Miami (Fla.) – 56
25. (NR) Mississippi – 40
Receiving Votes: Georgia Tech 23, Loyola Marymount 15, Northwestern 15, Kentucky 14, Vanderbilt 8, Oklahoma State 7, Texas Tech 5, Mississippi State 1
Dropped Out: Georgia Tech (15), Northwestern (18), LSU (23), Kentucky (25)
Pictured above: The Texas women's team following a win at the 2021 NCAA Championships at the USTA National Campus.
Photo Credit: Maunela Davis/USTA.
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