Select Page
Tagged with: , , , , ,

I looked over 1-10 a few days ago so today I’ll look at the teams that finished the year ranked between 11-15.

The new recruits section is from tennisrecruiting.net and from school releases so its possible some of those guys may not end up where they are currently showing. Several teams will probably have some guys coming in from outside the U.S. so we probably won’t know any names until the schools put out a release or we see the name on the roster in August/January. BC=Blue Chip, 5*=5 star, etc.


I’m sure we’ll also see some guys transfer as we do every year. We probably won’t know those until they show up on a new roster in the fall or we see a name with a different school beside it on the ITA All American list of participants in late September. I’ve added a new tab at the top to keep up with transfers throughout the summer.

There’s a possibility that a few guys may choose to leave school early (Rubin/Harris) and go pro but for now we’ll assume if they have eligibility remaining they’ll be back at the same place next year.

The returning depth players will mainly be guys that I think have a chance of playing so I may leave a few names off.

The # in ( ) beside the player’s name is where they played in the lineup at the end of the year.

I’ll take a wild guess at the starting 6 for next season but I won’t really know until the roster is set and I see some results in the fall.

#11 North Carolina

  • Returning singles starters: Brayden Schnur (1), Ronnie Schneider (2), Brett Clark (3), Jack Murray (4), Robert Kelly (5)
  • Returning depth: Stuart DePaolo
  • Departing singles starters: Esben Hess-Olesen (6)
  • Departing depth: Oystein Steiro
  • Returning doubles starters: Schnur (1), Clark/Kelly (2), Schneider/Murray (3)
  • Departing doubles starters: Hess-Olesen (1)
  • New Recruits: Anudeep Kodali (BC & UTR 13.46), Blaine Boyden (5* & UTR 13.23)
  • Potential starting 6 next year: Schnur, Schneider, Clark, Murray, Kelly, Kodali/Boyden

Comments: North Carolina started 2 freshman this year and they’ll likely start 1 more next year after losing Hess-Olesen and Steiro. North Carolina had a ton of injuries this year but if they stay healthy they should be a top 10 team.  Kodali and Boyden should battle for the 6 spot with everyone else likely to play in the same spot they held this year.

#12 Ohio State
  • Returning singles starters: Mikael Torpegaard (1), Chris Diaz (2), Herkko Pollanen (3), Ralf Steinbach (6)
  • Returning depth: Matt Mendez, Riley Reist, Charles Shewalter
  • Departing singles starters: Hunter Callahan (4), Kevin Metka (5)
  • Departing depth: None
  • Returning doubles starters: Steinbach (1), Diaz (2), Torpegaard/Pollanen (3)
  • Departing doubles starters: Metka (1), Callahan (2)
  • New Recruits: Hugo DiFeo (UTR 13.83), Martin Joyce (BC & UTR 13.76), Kyle Seelig (BC & UTR 12.74), Hunter Tubert (5* & UTR 12.86), Alex Kobelt (3* & UTR 10.84)
  • Potential starting 6 next year: DiFeo, Torpegaard, Diaz, Pollanen, Steinbach, Joyce/Mendez
Comments: DiFeo isn’t actually a new recruit because he was on the roster this past season but he wasn’t eligible to play. Ty Tucker said he would have likely played at #1 if eligible so we’ll assume he’ll be at #1 next year. It’s going to be tough to replace Kevin Metka and Hunter Callahan because they were both big contributors in both singles and doubles. The Buckeyes need more consistency from Pollanen and Steinbach because both have been up and down over the last 2 years. It should be a pretty good battle for #6 singles because a lot of those guys look to pretty evenly qualified.  

#13 Wake Forest
  • Returning singles starters: Noah Rubin (1), Romain Bogaerts (2), Skander Mansouri (3), Jon Ho (4), Christian Seraphim (5), Keivon Tabrizi (6)
  • Returning depth: Maksim Kan, Sam Bloom, Anthony Delcore
  • Departing singles starters: None
  • Departing depth: None
  • Returning doubles starters: Mansouri/Seraphim (1), Rubin/Ho (2), Tabrizi/Bogaerts (3)
  • Departing doubles starters: None
  • New Recruits: Eric Rutledge (BC & UTR 13.43)
    • Potential starting 6 next year: same as this year
    Comments: Wake was an extremely young team this season starting 4 freshman so IF Noah Rubin comes back they should be able to make a push into the top 10 next season. If Rubin doesn’t return Wake will still be a solid top 20 team but they’ll be closer to 20 instead of 10.   
    #14 Columbia 
    • Returning singles starters: Dragos Ignat (2), Mike Vermeer (5), Shawn Hadavi (6)
    • Returning depth: Eric Rubin 
    • Departing singles starters: Winston Lin (1), Ashok Narayana (3), Max Schnur (4), 
    • Departing depth: Bert Vancura
    • Returning doubles starters: Vermeer (1), Ignat (2)
    • Departing doubles starters: Lin (1), Narayana (2), Schnur/Vancura (3)
    • New Recruits: Victor Pham (BC & UTR 13.55), Timothy Wang (5* & UTR 12.70), Jack Turchetta (4* & UTR 12.72), William Matheson (UTR 13.04), Robin Nguy (UTR 11.62)
      • Potential starting 6 next year: Ignat, Vermeer, V Pham, Hadavi, Rubin, Matheson
        Comments: Columbia loses 50% of its dual-match wins with Lin, Narayana, Schnur, and Vancura departing. Vancura started almost the entire year until the NCAA Round of 16 when Schnur came back into the lineup after missing most of the season. Bid Goswami has a pretty nice recruiting class coming in highlighted by Blue Chipper Victor Pham who I’d expect to play in the top half of the lineup. Columbia had a pretty deep bench so it’s possible Richard Pham, Miguel Alda, Daniel Grunberger, and others could earn a spot in the rotation as well. 
        #15 UCLA
        • Returning singles starters: Mackenzie McDonald (1), Martin Redlicki (3), Karue Sell (4), Austin Rapp (5), Joseph DiGiulio (6)
        • Returning depth: Gage Brymer, Ryoto Tachi
        • Departing singles starters: Dennis Mkrtchian (2)
        • Departing depth: None
        • Returning doubles starters: McDonald/Redlicki (1), DiGiulio/Sell (2), Rapp (3)
        • Departing doubles starters: Mkrtchian (3)
        • New Recruits: Max Cressy (5* & UTR 12.93), Daniel Gealer (5* & UTR 12.45)
          • Potential starting 6 next year: McDonald, Redlicki, Sell, Brymer, Rapp, DiGiulio
            Comments: UCLA only loses 1 starter but Dennis Mkrtchian was a solid 15-5 in dual match play. UCLA really needs Gage Brymer and Joseph DiGiulio to play well next year otherwise they’ll probably be back in the same boat they were in this year. UCLA should have the top 1-2 combo in the conference and one of the best in the country but those depth spots will make or break them.

            Check back tomorrow for 16-20.