The Georgia women’s tennis team sits atop the ITA team rankings and the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top-25, it was announced Wednesday.
The USTA, a panel consisting of 14 voters, has had the Bulldogs (15-0, 7-0 SEC) at No. 1 since Feb. 13 – the poll following Georgia’s ITA National Indoor Team Championship. Georgia was tabbed the nation’s top team in the ITA rankings on the same day, but slipped two weeks later to No. 2 for four weeks even though it remained undefeated until now reclaiming the top spot.
“It is exciting,” Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace said. “However, what I tell our players all the time and what I live by is that the only ranking that really matters is the final rankings and all these now are to just show where teams are at on a weekly basis. Our goals are all in front of us still and we are able to accomplish them no matter where we are ranked. We shoot for being No. 1 by the end of the year, so ultimately that is what is important to us.”
Following Georgia in the top-five of the ITA rankings in order are North Carolina, Duke, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt. In addition to the three top-five Southeastern Conference teams, four more SEC teams fill out the top-25 for a total of seven schools – the most representation across conferences.
After Georgia in the USTA poll, UNC, Stanford, DU, and Pepperdine round out the top-five, respectively. This marks the seventh week in a row that the Bulldogs have resided in the top-spot.
In last week’s ITA individual singles rankings, Georgia sophomore Katarina Jokic also held on to the No. 1 spot for the third-straight poll that comes out every two weeks. Other Bulldogs garnering rankings including junior Marta Gonzalez (No. 20), sophomore Vivian Wolff (No. 34), freshman Lourdes Carle (No. 93) and freshman Meg Kowalski (No. 103).
Georgia returns to play Friday, March 29, against Alabama, ranked No. 39 in ITA, with