With every new college tennis season, comes new talent. The top 10 ITA Division I Women Newcomers have been released. The SEC narrowly edged out the Pac-12 for the most student-athletes on the list. Four SEC student-athletes are ranked in the top 10, while the Pac-12 has three student-athletes. The rest of the top 10 is rounded out by the Ivy League (2) and the ACC (1).
The majority of the top 10 went to programs that finished outside of the top 10 in the year-end rankings. Only No. 3 Melodie Collard (Virginia – No. 9) and No. 4 Mell Reasco (Georgia – No. 4) are joining programs that finished in the top 10. In fact, the No. 1 Newcomer, Sarah Hamner, is headed to a program that finished outside of the top 25 teams. South Carolina ended the 2021 season ranked No. 26 in the nation. Only one other program on the Newcomer list finished ranked lower — Arizona State at No. 31.
The ITA Division I Women’s Preseason Singles Rankings and ITA Division I Women’s Doubles Rankings were also released Tuesday.
ITA Division I Women’s Rankings
Top 10 Newcomers
Administered by the ITA
September 7, 2021
| Rank | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sarah Hamner | University of South Carolina |
| 2 | Patricija Spaka | Arizona State University |
| 3 | Melodie Collard | Virginia |
| 4 | Mell Reasco | Georgia |
| 5 | Sabine Rutlauka | University of Pennsylvania |
| 6 | Jenna DeFalco | LSU |
| 7 | Jessica Alsola | California |
| 8 | Alexandra Yepifanova | Stanford |
| 9 | Victoria Hu | Princeton University |
| 10 | Mary Stoiana | Texas A&M University |
