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UF Women’s Tennis Ranked No. 1 in ITA Preseason Listing
GAINESVILLE,
Fla. – On the strength of returning all seven letterwinners who
participated in the 2011 NCAA Championship match, the University of
Florida women’s tennis team was ranked first in the Intercollegiate
Tennis Association Preseason Rankings.
Florida, the defending
NCAA champion, is ranked No. 1 to start the year for the eighth time
since the ranking system began for the 1985-86 season. It is UF’s first
preseason No. 1 ranking since the 2003-04 campaign.
The Gators
capped their 2011 NCAA Title run with a 31-1 overall record, defeating
Stanford, 4-3, in a thrilling finale held in Stanford, Calif. The
Cardinal open the 2011-12 season ranked second, with Duke, North
Carolina, UCLA, Baylor, Georgia, California, Virginia and Michigan
rounding out the top-10.
Florida is scheduled to meet five of
those other top-7 teams during the regular season, playing at Stanford
on Feb. 12, hosting Duke on March 14, hosting North Carolina on Feb.
26, traveling to Baylor on Feb. 4 and at Georgia on March 4. Georgia
also plays host to the 2012 NCAA Championships, May 17-28.
Five
Gators earned a spot in the top-41 positions of the preseason singles
rankings, along with two doubles teams charted among the nation’s top
15 tandems in the country.
Junior Allie Will (Boca Raton, Fla.)
is ranked third and senior Joanna Mather (Duluth, Ga.) fourth in the
preseason singles chart, while junior Lauren Embree (Marco Island,
Fla.) is 25th.
The Gator trio had a tremendous fall season, with
Will posting a 5-0 record highlighted by winning the Riviera/ITA
All-American Singles Championships, one of the collegiate grand slam
events. Mather, who was 12-4 during the fall, reached the finals of the
USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships, while reaching the finals of
the Riviera/ITA All-American consolation draw where she fell to
Stanford’s Mallory Burdette, the top-ranked player in the country in
the January 3rd rankings. Embree logged a 7-3 singles record during the
2011 fall, reaching the round of 16 at the Riviera/ITA All-American
Singles Championships and the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships,
where she bowed out in three sets to the eventual champion.
Gator
sophomores Sofie Oyen (Leopoldsburg, Belgium) and Alex Cercone
(Seminole, Fla.) earned the No. 34 and No. 41 spots in the national
singles rankings, as they posted 7-2 and 8-2 records, respectively.
Florida’s
Oyen and Will were ranked 10th in the January listing, while the team
of Embree and Mather were 15th. Oyen and Will produced a 3-1 record
together during the 2011 fall season, reaching the finals of the
Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in their only event, falling in
a second-set tiebreaker to Stanford’s Burdette and Nicole Gibbs, which
tops the national January doubles rankings.
Embree and Mather captured the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships consolation draw title, winning the final, 8-0.
Florida
will send some players to compete in the Freeman Memorial, which is the
last individual singles and doubles event prior to the NCAA
Championships, Jan. 13-15 in Las Vegas, before opening its 2012 dual
match season on Jan. 25, playing host to Troy at Linder Stadium at Ring
Tennis Complex beginning at 3 p.m. Admission to all regular-season home
matches is free.
Women’s National Team Rankings, Administered by the ITA
January 3, 2012
Rank School Average
1 Florida 1.00
2 Stanford 2.00
3 Duke 3.17
4 North Carolina 4.83
5 UCLA 5.08
6 Baylor 6.42
7 Georgia 7.29
8 California 8.50
9 Virginia 9.63
10 Michigan 10.04
Gators in the National Singles Rankings
3. Allie Will
4. Joanna Mather
25. Lauren Embree
34. Sofie Oyen
41. Alex Cercone
Gator Teams in the National Doubles Rankings
10. Sofie Oyen & Allie Will
15. Lauren Embree & Joanna Mather
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