The 2017-18 season may have just finished up but that doesn’t mean we have to wait until September to start the new season. The ITA Kick-Off Weekend Draft will be held on Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 3 p.m. ET with the men making their selections on Wednesday while the women pick on Thursday. The final ITA team rankings determine the 15 regional hosts plus they determine the order of selection for everyone else. The National Team Indoor Championship host gets an automatic bid so the Washington women and Illinois men get the free pass.
The biggest news is that the Stanford women will participate in the KOW for the first time since 2011. In the past Stanford has been able to skip the event and still work its way up into the top 16, which guaranteed itself a spot as a NCAA regional host, but with the new super regional format kicking in next year it’ll take a ranking in the top 8 to be able to play at home until reaching the NCAA Final Site.
There was one top 16 school that decided to skip the draft and it was the Texas Tech women which finished the year ranked No. 9. Other women’s schools that decided to take a pass were Texas A&M, Rice, Virginia Tech, USC, Boston College, Alabama, Hawaii, Notre Dame, Louisville, and Georgia State.
The highest ranked men’s school to pass in advance was No. 23 South Carolina with Harvard, Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn, South Florida, and Georgia State the others to opt out. There are several others that may opt out on the day of the draft depending on what spots are available.
The ITA will have a live event on its Facebook page beginning at noon each day plus selections will be updated on Slam.Tennis (also shown below)
The men’s sites that will likely fill up first based on departing starters are Michigan, Florida State, Texas A&M, and Stanford while Illinois and TCU may not be far behind. Michigan has to replace four singles starters (top two and bottom two), Florida State has to replace three of its top four, Texas A&M has to replace four starters including its top three, and Stanford has to replace three of its top five. Both Illinois and TCU have to replace two of their top three.
TRN recruiting class rankings of the below teams – Florida #1, Texas A&M #3, Stanford #4, Michigan #5, UCLA #11, Oklahoma #13, USC #16, Ohio State #22, North Carolina #24.
UCLA – Martin Redlicki (S/D), Logan Staggs (S), Austin Rapp (D)
Texas A&M – Patrick Kypson (S/D), Arthur Rinderknech (S/D), Jordi Arconada (S/D), AJ Catanzariti (S/D)
Mississippi State – NONE
North Carolina – Robert Kelly (S/D)
Stanford – Tom Fawcett (S/D), Tom Fomba (S/D), David Wilczynski (S/D)
Illinois – Aleks Vukic (S/D), Aron Hiltzik (S/D)
TCU – Trevor Johnson (S/D), Guillermo Nunez (S/D)
Florida – Chase Perez-Blanco (S/D)
USC – Thibault Forget (S)
Texas – NONE
Florida State – Guy Iradukunda (S/D), Lucas Poullain (S/D), Jose Gracia (S/D), Terrance Whitehurst (D)
Michigan – Alex Knight (S/D), Runhao Hua (S/D), Carter Lin (S), Davis Crocker (S)
Columbia – Michal Rolski (D)
Oklahoma – NONE (if Spencer Papa comes back for his redshirt senior year)
The women’s site that will likely fill up first based on departing starters is Northwestern with the Wildcats losing three of their top five. Both Florida and Georgia Tech are losing three singles starters as well while Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Ole Miss, and Georgia are losing two. Stanford and North Carolina bring everyone back while South Carolina, UCLA, Texas, Duke, and Vanderbilt lose just one starter. Of course most of these teams are bringing in some top-notch talent too so that has to be considered when teams make their selections.
TRN recruiting class rankings of the below teams – UCLA #1, Georgia Tech #6, Georgia #7, Stanford #9, Vanderbilt #14, Northwestern #18, Duke #22, North Carolina #24
Women’s Regional Hosts (Departing Starters)
Stanford – NONE
Vanderbilt – Astra Sharma (S/D)
North Carolina – NONE
Duke University – Samantha Harris (S/D)
Georgia Tech – Paige Hourigan (S/D), Johnnise Renaud (S/D), Ida Jarlskog (S/D)
Texas – Dani Wagland (S/D)
Georgia – Kennedy Shaffer (S/D), Mariana Gould (S/D)
Ole Miss – Arianne Hartono (S/D), Natalie Suk (S/D)
UCLA – Terri Fleming (S/D)
Florida – Anna Danilina (S/D), Josie Kuhlman (S/D), Peggy Porter (S/D)
South Carolina – Hadley Berg (S/D)
Pepperdine – Mayar Sherif (S/D), Laura Gulbe (S/D)
Oklahoma State – Vladica Babic (S/D), Megan McCray (S/D)
Northwestern – Erin Larner (S/D), Maddie Lipp (S/D), Alex Chatt (S/D)
Florida State – Gabriella Castaneda (S/D)
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