Courtesy of Intercollegiate Tennis Association
25th ITA Men's Hall of Fame Class Announced: The ITA Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame will induct 11 new members on May 23 during this year's NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga.. The Class of 2007 includes nine players, two coaches and one contributor. The players slated for this 25th class are: Steve Bryan of Texas, Harry Likas, Jr. of San Francisco, Matt Lucena of California, Todd Martin of Northwestern, Allen Miller of Georgia, Alex O'Brien of Stanford, Al Parker of Georgia and MaliVai Washington of Michigan. Coaches Joe Cabri of Lander ( S.C.) and Tom Parham of Atlantic Christian (now Barton (N.C.)) and Elon (N.C.) will also be inducted. Col. John L. Beaver of Georgia will be inducted posthumously as a contributor. The ITA Men's Hall of Fame, which includes over 1,800 rare photos, inducted its first class in 1983 and has inducted more than 170 players, coaches and contributors since then. Members include the late Arthur Ashe (UCLA), Jimmy Connors (UCLA), John McEnroe (Stanford) and Stan Smith (Southern California).
More on Martin and Washington: Todd Martin and MaliVai Washington became forever linked in tennis history when Washington beat Martin in the memorable 1996 Wimbledon semifinal match, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 10-8. Seven years earlier Martin and Washington were among the nation's top players for Big Ten schools Northwestern and Michigan, respectively. Washington earned Big 10 Player of the Year honors in 1989 and Martin followed in 1990. They also accounted for back-to-back ITA National Indoor singles titles, Washington in '89 and Martin in '90. Washington captured the ITA All-American title in '88 and was the ITA National Player of the Year in '90. Martin would go on to a pro career that saw him climb as high as No. 4 in the ATP Rankings; Washington achieved a career-best No. 11.
Top spots: The Georgia men and Stanford women remain at No. 1 in this week's Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). Georgia improved to 9-0 after its win over Furman last week. Stanford ran its record to 7-1 after wins over Arizona State and Arizona last week. The Cardinal has now won 96 of its last 97 matches. Georgia has won 39 of its last 40. UGA received all 10 first-place votes. Stanford garnered eight of 10 first-place votes; second-ranked Notre Dame received the other two.
Rounding out the Top 10: Following Georgia in this week's men's top 10 are (in order): Ohio State, Virginia, Baylor, UCLA, Mississippi, Illinois, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State and Florida State. Following Stanford in the women's top 10 are: Notre Dame, Florida, North Carolina, Northwestern, Georgia Tech, California, Southern California, Miami (Fla.) and William & Mary.
Unbeatens: In addition to Georgia, Southern California and North Carolina also boast perfect records in this week's men's top 25. At 9-0 USC is off to its best start since 1991, when it won the 14th of the program's 16 NCAA titles. Coach Peter Smith and the 11th-ranked Men of Troy are a win away from equalling the program's best start since 1987. North Carolina is on pace to duplicate its fast start of a year ago. At 8-0 the No. 17 Tar Heels are seven wins away from last year's unblemished start. On the women's side, No. 3 Florida (8-0), No. 10 William & Mary (8-0) and No. 12 Georgia (6-0) have yet to lose. Florida won its 49th straight regular season home match last weekend against Duke. The Gators have been ranked inside the top 4 in 12 straight ranking periods dating back to last season.
Newcomers: Wake Forest and Rice jumped into this week's men's top 25 at Nos. 18 and 25, respectively. Texas A&M enters the women's top 25 for the first time this season at No. 23.
Conference count: The Atlantic Coast Conference leads the way this week with five schools in the men's top 25. The Southeastern Conference and Big 10 are next with four each. The ACC also leads the way in the women's rankings with six in the top 25. The Pacific-10 follows with five.
All-around success: Thirteen schools have both their men's and women's programs ranked inside this week's top 25.
March 6 shake-up: Each season the national team rankings begin with a series of polls and switch to a computer ranking in March (for the remainder of the season). This season's switch occurs next week and typically produces several changes throughout the rankings.
Did you know?: New ITA Hall of Fame inductee Joe Cabri coached Lander to 10 straight national titles from 1991-2000. Lander won back-to-back NAIA titles in 1991-92, then reeled off a record eight straight at the NCAA Division II level from 1993-2000.
Men's tennis
Fila/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I top 25
1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Virginia
4. Baylor
5. UCLA
6. Mississippi
7. Illinois
8. Notre Dame
9. Oklahoma State
10. Florida State
11. Southern California
12. Duke
13. Florida
14. Pepperdine
15. Washington
16. Texas
17. North Carolina
18. Wake Forest
19. Boise State
20. LSU
21. Va. Commonwealth
22. Michigan
23. Tulsa
24. Minnesota
25. Rice
Women's tennis
Fila/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I top 25
1. Stanford
2. Notre Dame
3. Florida
4. North Carolina
5. Northwestern
6. Georgia Tech
7. California
8. Southern California
9. Miami (Fla.)
10. William & Mary
11. Duke 3
12. Georgia
13. Clemson
14. Baylor
15. UCLA
16. Fresno State
17. Vanderbilt
18. Pepperdine
19. Texas
20. Arizona State
21. Wake Forest
22. Va. Commonwealth
23. Texas A&M
24. Tennessee
25. Michigan
