Defending national champion Virginia showed in the fall why they would be a tough team to deal with in the 2016 spring season. The Cavaliers claimed ITA National Title at the Oracle/ITA Masters and Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championships.
In Malibu, Ryan Shane and Luca Corinteli won the doubles championship, while in Tulsa, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski became the first player since 2009, and fourth overall, to win men’s singles and doubles titles in the same year. Kwiatkowski claimed the singles title and teamed up with Mac Styslinger to earn the doubles crown. Kwiatkowski is the No. 2 ranked singles player in the nation, with Shane checking in at No. 11. In doubles, Kwiatkowski and Styslinger are No. 5, while Shane and Corinteli are No. 15.
Top 25 Teams Conference Breakdown
Top 10 teams in parenthesis
Big 12 (3) – 5 -Oklahoma (2); TCU (3); Baylor (4); Texas (12); Texas Tech (17)
ACC (2) – 5 -Virginia (1); North Carolina (9); Wake Forest (11); Duke (13); Virginia Tech (17)
SEC (2) – 5 -Texas A&M (5); Georgia (7); Mississippi (19); Florida (24); Vanderbilt (25)
Pac-12 (1) – 4 -USC (8); UCLA (14); Stanford (20); Cal (21)
Big Ten (2) – 3 -Illinois (6); Ohio State (10); Minnesota (23)
American – 1 -South Florida (15)
Ivy League – 1 -Columbia (18)
West Coast Conference – 1 -San Diego (22)
Koepfer Makes History
Thanks to a brilliant fall campaign that saw him reach at the least the semifinal round of all three ITA National Championships, Tulane’s Dominik Koepfer is the first player from the Green Wave to ascend to the nation’s No. 1 singles ranking. Koepfer, who was No. 10 in the 2015-16 preseason rankings, capped off the fall with a victory at the 2015 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. The senior reached the semifinals at the inaugural Oracle/ITA Masters and finals at the 2015 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championship.
Oracle ITA Rankings Big Mover Of The Week
Texas A&M’s Arthur Rinderknech climbed from No. 53 in the preseason rankings up to No. 5 in the current rankings. Rinderknech, who is also ranked No. 12 in doubles along with teammate Shane Vinsant, reached the Round of 32 at the 2015 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championship, where he lost to eventual champion, Kwiatkowski of Virginia. Rinderknech earned his spot at the 2015 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships with a victory at the Texas Regional. At the NIIC, Rinderknech advanced to the quarterfinal round.
Ohio State Doubles Up
Ohio State is the lone team with two players in the top 10 of the national singles rankings. Mikael Torpegaard is No. 7, and Hugo Di Feo is No. 10.
Singles Top 25 Conference Breakdown
Top 10 players in parenthesis
ACC (2) – 8
-Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Virginia (2); Christopher Eubanks, Georgia Tech (6); Ryan Shane, Virginia (11); Nicolas Alvarez, Duke (12); Ronnie Schneider, North Carolina (13); Joao Monteiro, Virginia Tech (14); Benjamin Lock, Florida State (15); Piotr Lomacki, Miami (FL) (23)
Big Ten (2) – 6
-Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State (7); Hugo Di Feo, Ohio State (10); Konrad Zieba, Northwestern (16); Chris Diaz, Ohio State (19); Jared Hiltzik, Illinois (21); Herkko Pollanen, Ohio State (25)
Big 12 (2) – 3
-Cameron Norrie, TCU (5); Felipe Soares, Texas Tech (8); Guillermo Nunez, TCU (24)
SEC (1) – 3
-Arthur Rinderknech, Texas A&M (5); Wayne Montgomery, Georgia (20); Jordan Daigle, LSU (22)
Pac-12 (2) – 2
-Andre Goransson, Cal (3); Tom Fawcett, Stanford (9)
American (1) – 2
-Dominik Koepfer, Tulane (1); Roberto Cid, South Florida (17)
Ivy League – 1
-Dovydas Sakinis, Dartmouth (18)
Clark & Kelly = A Dangerous Duo
Brett Clark and Robert Kelly of North Carolina played in two ITA National Championships in the fall, and reached the final in both. Although they came up on the short side in the Tulsa and New York finals, the Tar Heel duo find themselves positioned as the nation’s top-ranked doubles team entering the start of the spring season.
Doubles Top 10 Conference Breakdown
ACC – 3
-Brett Clark/Robert Kelly, North Carolina (1); Mac Styslinger/Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Virginia (5); Alex Lawson/Quentin Monaghan, Notre Dame (6)
Big 12 – 2
-Hugo Dojas/Felipe Soares, Texas Tech (2); Arjun Kadhe/Julian Cash, Oklahoma State (9)
SEC – 2
-Gordon Watson/Diego Hidalgo, Florida (3); Ben Wagland/Austin Smith, Georgia (10)
Atlantic Sun – 1
-Jack Findel-Hawkins/Yannick Zuern, North Florida (4)
Mountain West – 1
-Hayden Sabatka/Bart Van Leijsen, New Mexico (8)
West Coast Conference – 1
-Filip Vittek/Jordan Angus, San Diego (7)