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Tennis is a difficult sport to rank the conferences in. For one thing, you have both Men's and Women's teams. Then you have competitions for Team Champions, Singles Champions, and Doubles Champions. So, all of those different categories have to be taken into account in figuring out who has the best overall tennis program.
Before beginning my research, I thought (perhaps hoped) that SEC Tennis was dominant. The SEC seems to bill itself as the nations top tennis conference. And, of course, I had heard that Georgia was the dominant team. Well, Georgia has the best men's program overall. But, when you look at the strength of the entire SEC for both men's and women's tennis – I just can't rank SEC Tennis #1.
Here's our ranking with an explanation of why.
1. Pac-10 Stanford has won the Women's NCAA Tennis Championship for the past 3 years and 7 of the past 10 years. In fact, since 1982 (when the Woman's NCAA Championship began) Stanford has won 15 times and Southern Cal has won twice (so 17 of 25 championships. On the Men's side, the Pac-10 has won the team championship 6 of the past 10 years and that has been a comparatively weak period as before that, all the way back to 1946, the Pac-10 (UCLA, Stanford or USC) won almost every year. As far as the final top-25 team rankings in 2006, the Pac-10 averaged 4.5 teams in the top 25 when you combine the men's and women's polls. This is second only to the ACC.
Want some controversy? Read these articles about the best tennis players and best tennis rivalries of all-time: Best All-Time Tennis Player and Biggest All-Time Tennis Rivalry
2. SEC It's a tough call for 2d place between the SEC and ACC. I give the nod to the Southeastern Conference because overall it has more teams (particularly the Georgia Men and Florida Women) at the top. The SEC has more NCAA Tennis Championships. The ACC has more teams in the top 25, but they just don't have any championships to show for it. The Georgia Men won the NCAA Championship in 1985, 1987, 1999, 2001, and now 2007. They came in second 8 times since 1989 – including 2006 (losing to Pepperdine). SEC Tennis has also had 4 other teams come in second 5 times since 1988. On the Women's side, Florida won the NCAA Tennis Team Championship 4 times since 1992. Georgia won it twice. Florida also came in second 6 times since 1988; Georgia and Vanderbilt have each come in second once since 1987. The final 2006 poll had 5 men's SEC Tennis teams in the top 25 and three SEC Tennis women's teams.
3. ACC The ACC has been completely shut out of NCAA Tennis Team Championships on both the Men's and Women's side. Miami was the Women's Team NCAA runner-up in 2006. [Miami's women's team was also runner up in 1985 and the men's team in 1975 – but Miami was not in the ACC then). It is really surprising since the ACC had the most teams in the top 25 final 2006 poll – 6 on the Men's side and 7 in the Women's poll. Duke is the best of the bunch, but no higher than 6th in either poll.
4. Big-12 Texas and Baylor finished ranked 3rd and 4th in the final 2006 Men's poll. Baylor was 5th in the Women's poll. Baylor also won the 2004 Men's NCAA Tennis Championship and came in second in 2005. Texas came in 2d in the Women's 2005 Team Championship. The Big-12 had 4 teams in the Men's final 2006 poll; 2 in the Women's.
5. Big Ten Not much to talk about. Illinois won the 2003 Men's Team Championship. The Big Ten had 2 teams in the final 2006 Men's poll and only one in the final Women's poll.
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1. Georgia Bulldogs Certainly the best SEC tennis program. [You can make a solid argument that Georgia has the best tennis program in the country. If you just look at Men's tennis – I'd agree. But certainly Stanford has recently dominated Women's tennis and has a very strong Men's program as well. So, overall, I'd give the nod to Stanford.] But, as stated above, the Georgia Bulldog Men won the NCAA Tennis Championship in 1985, 1987, 1999 and 2001. They came in second 8 times since 1989 – including 2006 (lost to Pepperdine). The Georgia Bulldog Women have won the NCAA championship twice and finished second to Stanford in 2004 and 2005. Georgia finished 2006 ranked #1 in the country in the final poll, but came in second to Pepperdine in the NCAA Tennis Championship. Georgia's Men's team finished 2006 with a perfect 11-0 record in the SEC and 30-1 overall. They won the SEC Tennis tournament. They were led by John Isner and Travis Helgeson in Singles (both ranked in top 5 nationally) and the team of John Isner/Luis Flores in doubles. The Georgia Women ended up 4th in the SEC Eastern Division. The University of Georgia hosts the 2007 NCAA Tennis Championships (Men's and Women's) in 2007. Update -- as noted above, the Bulldog men won it all -- again -- in 2007.
2. Florida Gators The Lady Gators are the best SEC tennis women’s team. In fact they are probably second to Stanford nationally. They’ve won the NCAA Women’s Tennis Team Championship four times, the last in 2003. They’ve also come in second in the nation six times since 1988. The Lady Gators ended 2006 ranked 3rd in the country in the final poll. They had an undefeated SEC record (11-0) and were 25-2 overall. They also won the SEC Tennis Tournament. As for the Florida men’s team – they are quite solid. They finished second to Georgia in the SEC East and ranked 14th in the nation. Florida’s men’s team was led by Greg Ouellette in singles as well as in doubles (along with Nestor Briceno). The Lady Gators were led by Diana Srebrovic in singles (ranked in top 10 nationally) and the team of Nina Suvak and Whitney Benik in doubles.
3. Ole Miss Rebels The Ole Miss Men’s tennis team won the SEC West with an 8-3 record and were 22-6 overall in 2006. They finished the season ranked 13th nationally. The Ole Miss men’s team came in second in the NCAA tournament in 1995. They also won the SEC Tennis Tournament in 2004 and tied for the SEC Tennis Tournament championship (with Florida) in 2005. In 2006, the Rebels were led by Erling Tveit (ranked in top 10 nationally) in both singles and doubles (along with Fredrik Aarum). The Ole Miss Women finished 3rd in the SEC West in 2006 with a 4-7 record; 11-9 overall.
4. Louisiana State Tigers The LSU Men’s tennis team finished 2d in the SEC West with a 7-4 record in the SEC and 14-10 overall. They also were ranked 16th nationally in the final Men’s Tennis poll. They were led by Ken Skupski in singles and by Colt Gaston and Danny Bryan in doubles. In 1988, the LSU Men’s team was NCAA Runner Up. The Lady Tigers ended up 4th in the SEC West with a 3-8 conference record and 12-12 overall.
5. Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Men’s tennis team finished 2006 3rd in the SEC East with a 7-4 record and 16-10 overall. They were led by Bruno Agostinelli in singles. The Wildcat Women’s tennis team finished 2006 ranked 23rd nationally and 3rd in the SEC East. They went 8-3 in the conference and 19-10 overall. The Lady Wildcat’s were led by Kim Coventry in both singles and doubles (along with Carolina Escamilla). The doubles team was ranked in the top 10 nationally.
6. Vanderbilt Commodores The Vandy Women’s tennis team finished 2006 ranked 8th nationally and second in the SEC East with a 10-1 conference record and 23-4 overall. They were led by Amanda Fish in singles and doubles (along with Taka Bertrand). The Commodore Men’s tennis team came in second in the NCAA Tennis Tournament in 2003. Unfortunately, in 2006 they finished dead last in the SEC East with a 2-9 record and 7-14 overall. They were led by Ryan Preston in singles and Evan Dufaux and Andy Mack in doubles.
7.Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Men’s tennis team finished 2006 ranked 25th nationally and 3rd in the SEC West. They had a 6-5 conference record and 18-11 overall. They were led by Blake Strode in singles. The Razorback Women’s tennis team finished 2d in the SEC West with a 5-6 conference record and 10-11 overall. They were led by Ela Kaluder in singles.
8. Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Men’s Tennis Team finished second in the NCAA tournament in 1990 (lost to Stanford) and 2001 (lost to Georgia). They finished 2006 5th in the SEC East with a 3-8 conference record and 9-11 overall. They were led by Bobby Cameron in singles and Adam Hubble and Ben Rogers in doubles (ranked in top-10 nationally). The Lady Vols also finished 5th in the SEC East with a 6-5 conference record and 12-13 overall.
9. South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Men’s tennis team finished in 4th place in the SEC East with a 5-6 record and 14-15 overall. They were led by Jaime Cuellar in singles and Pedro Rodrigues and Yevgeny Supeko in doubles. The Lady Gamecocks finished in last place in the SEC East with a 4-7 record and 12-11 overall. They were led by Gira Schofield in both singles and doubles (along with Natasha Vuckovic).
10. Alabama Crimson Tide The Bama Women’s tennis team finished 2006 in first place in the SEC West. But, this says more about the weakness of the SEC West than anything because their conference record was only 6-5 and only 11-12 overall. The Alabama Men’s tennis team finished 4th in the SEC West with a 4-7 conference record and 14-13 overall. They were led by Joseph Jung in singles.
11. Auburn Tigers The Auburn Men’s tennis team finished 5th in the SEC West with a 4-7 record and 14-11 overall. They were led by Alex Schweizer and Robert Lathouwers in singles. The Tiger Women’s tennis team finished last in the SEC West with an 0-11 conference record and 6-18 overall. They were led by Alex Haney in singles.
12. Mississippi State Bulldogs Both Mississippi State teams finished with 1-10 conference records. This put the Women’s team in 5th place in the SEC West and the Men’s team in last place. The Men’s team was led by Ivan Bjelica in singles.
SEC TENNIS!!
SEC TENNIS!!
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