The Southwestern University Pirates women's tennis team matched the highest ranking in program history when the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released its latest polls this week, climbing to No. 21 in Division III.
The ITA Rankings are determined by coaches polling, covering the top 40 teams in the nation.
Southwestern first reached its high mark last season, climbing from No. 38 to No. 21 after a string of victories against nationally-ranked teams. The Pirates finished the season at No. 22 after compiling an 18-3 record and finishing second in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC).
The Pirates opened the preseason polls at 22 and opened the season winning their first three matches before splitting a weekend series in California against nationally-ranked teams, losing to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and defeating CalTech, who were ranked No. 2 and No. 21 at the time.
Southwestern will travel to Seguin tomorrow to face SCAC opponent Texas Lutheran University at 5:00 p.m. Next week, the Pirates will return to California to face Cal Lutheran, Pomona-Pitzer (6), and Bowdoin (10) from Friday, March 13 through Sunday, March 15.
| RANK | SCHOOL |
|---|---|
| 1 | Claremont-Mudd-Scripps |
| 2 | Wesleyan University |
| 3 | Emory University |
| 4 | Middlebury College |
| 5 | Carnegie Mellon University |
| 6 | Pomona-Pitzer Colleges |
| 7 | Amherst College |
| 8 | Univ. of Chicago |
| 9 | MIT |
| 10 | Bowdoin College |
| 11 | Tufts University |
| 12 | Williams College |
| 13 | Kenyon College |
| 14 | Johns Hopkins University |
| 15 | University of Mary Washington |
| 16 | Skidmore College |
| 17 | New York University |
| 18 | Washington & Lee University |
| 19 | Washington University in St. Louis |
| 20 | Brandeis University |
| 21 | Southwestern University (TX) |
| 22 | Swarthmore College |
| 23 | Whitman College |
| 24 | Linfield College |
| 25 | Denison University |
| 26 | Carleton College |
| 27 | Case Western Reserve University |
| 28 | Hope College |
| 29 | Univ. of Redlands |
| 30 | California Institute of Technology |
| 31 | Trinity University (Texas) |
| 32 | Bates College |
| 33 | Christopher Newport University |
| 34 | Univ. of the South |
| 35 | The University of Texas At Dallas |
| 36 | Grinnell College |
| 37 | Bethel UMN |
| 38 | Gustavus Adolphus College |
| 39 | Depauw University |
| 40 | Univ. of Wisconsin, Whitewater |