Tampa Reaches Top 10 in ITA Rankings

Tampa, Fla. - The University of Tampa women's tennis team comes in ranked sixth in the nation in week six of the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings.

The Spartans' success this season stems from an overall collaborative team effort. Part of this success, has been led by No. 18 Raquel Amaro. Amaro, who was awarded her first SSC Player of the Week, March 13 defeated multiple nationally ranked singles players. This would include, Embry-Riddle's No. 15 Itxaso Blanco (6-2, 6-3), Formally No. 27, now No. 49 Anna Novikova of UIndy (6-3,6-4), and Southern New Hampshire's former No. 22, now No. 32 Magdalena Hubickova (6-0, 6-2).

With an overall singles record of 9-4, Victoria Sanchez joined Amaro as the second Spartan to be nationally ranked this season at No. 67 via ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings. Sanchez, currently on a five-match win streak defeated former No. 42 Margarita Andreiuk, (6-1, 6-3) in that upset win against then No. 3 UIndy. This upset pushed UIndy back to No. 7 as well as Andreiuk to No. 61. UIndy also, became win the highest ranked team that Tampa defeated in program history. 

Tampa has not only been dominant on the singles end but also doubles having Amaro/Sanchez, fly in under the radar ranking seventeenth in the nation, after previously not being ranked at all. The doubles duo defeated multiple nationally ranked doubles teams to earn this position. Such examples include, defeating UIndy's No. 7 Novikova/Sharonova, 6-1 on March 16th. Then, 24 hours later defeating Southern New Hampshire's No. 44 Etienne/Hubickova, 6-2 to extend their win streak to nine.  

The Sunshine State Conference is a well-renowned conference across the country, having six teams in the ITA Top 20: Barry University (1), Nova Southeastern University (2), Saint Leo University (3), University of Tampa (6), Lynn University (13), and Florida Southern College (18).

After a win against IUP, Tampa looks to face No. 13 Lynn Saturday, March 25th in Boca Raton, Fla. This will Tampa's first conference matchup since, February 26th against Embry-Riddle.