By Jordan Johnston,
Special to SouthernTennis.com

The 2014 collegiate tennis season will see several changes at the Division I level due to an experimental scoring format implemented by the ITA. These changes are in place until February.

Dual matches will begin with three doubles matches that play a shorter set. For the men, the scoring is no-ad and a tiebreak at 5-all. The women will play regular scoring with a tiebreak at 6-all. Remaining matches do not finish after doubles point is clinched. After doubles has concluded, singles for the men will be best two out of three sets with a tiebreak at 5-all. Singles is also no-ad scoring.

The women play a slightly different singles format. Each match is best two out of three sets with a 10-point match tiebreak in lieu of a third set.

Lastly, there will be no warm up between teams at the start of each doubles and singles match.

Previews

On the men’s side, USTA Southern is well represented in the ITA rankings. Georgia will start the season with a No. 3 ranking. Austin Smith and Nathan Pasha, both metro Atlanta residents, come in with individual rankings of No. 12 and No. 21, respectively.

The No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers will look to have another competitive season in the SEC. The Vols doubles tandem of Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis are the top ranked team in the nation. Reese, a Georgia native, also notched the No. 16 individual ranking. The ACC’s top team is Duke, which stands one spot behind UT at No. 7. 

Two other SEC team inside the top-21 are Ole Miss, which notched the No. 11 spot, and Mississippi State with the No. 14 spot. Closing out the top 20 is Wake Forest, which is the second highest ranked men’s program in North Carolina. Memphis makes the cut at No. 21.

Looking to this upcoming season, there are six women’s teams from the USTA Southern in the top 20 of the latest ITA Team rankings.

Leading the Southern region in the rankings are the Tar Heels from UNC. South Carolina native Hayley Carter earned an individual ranking of No. 5.

One spot below UNC are the Georgia Bulldogs, coming in at No. 4. UGA has two players individually placed in the top 10 including North Carolinian, Lauren Herring at No. 4. Duke landed the No. 10 spot on the ranking while the University of Alabama will begin the season at No. 12.

Vanderbilt stays inside the top 20 with a ranking of No. 16. Rounding out the list is Georgia Tech ranked No. 20. Two Georgia natives, Kendall Woodard and Megan Kurey, who are ranked No. 4, are expected to have a successful season after capturing the ITA National Indoor Championship doubles title this fall.

In Division II action, the women of Armstrong Atlantic were given the top spot of the latest rankings. The men’s program are ranked No. 2 behind Barry College located in northern Georgia. Other teams worth noting are Columbus State No. 10 and Georgia College (formerly Georgia College & State University) at No. 11.

Emory has upheld its strong tennis tradition in Division III play with the men ranked No. 6 and women No. 2. The Eagles begin play this February.

SCAD Savannah has the No. 1 ranked player in the NAIA, Theresa Schmaus. Right behind her is Jade Curtis, from Auburn University Montgomery. The Warhawks also have four of the men’s players ranked inside the top 15.

Jordan Johnston, a former BB&T Atlanta Open media intern, is the No. 1 player at Elon and is ranked No. 69 in the country.

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