Jan. 4, 2012
SEATTLE - Husky junior Kyle McMorrow jumped up to a new career-high in the first set of Intercollegiate Tennis Assocation singles rankings for the new year, coming in at No. 15, while Washington will begin the season ranked 26th as a team. The Huskies kick off their 2012 schedule on January 13 against Seattle U. at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. McMorrow was ranked 22nd in the fall, his highest point at that time and his first time in the top-25. He then enjoyed a strong fall season, earning wins over three players also now ranked in the top-25 (No. 6 Evan King of Michigan; No. 12 Ray Sarmiento of USC; No. 24 Roy Kalmanovich of Illinois). Two of his defeats in the fall were against players now ranked second and third in the nation. An All-Pac-12 First Team selection last year, McMorrow is the sixth Husky ever to be ranked in the top-15 nationally, and the first since Alex Vlaski and Alex Slovic were both in that echelon during the 2005 season. The Dawgs ended the 2011 season ranked 25th nationally and begin 2012 just one spot off of that ranking. UW will look to continue its string of seventeen straight NCAA tournament appearances. The first team rankings also give some good early context to Washington's challenging schedule. Washington will play a minimum of 22 regular season matches, and 18 of those matches will be against teams ranked in the top-75 to start the year. Based on the initial rankings, the Dawgs will play at least nine matches against top-40 teams, and five top-15 squads. The Pac-12 portion of the schedule is the toughest on paper, as No. 1-ranked USC, No. 6 Stanford, No. 9 UCLA, and No. 14 California will provide top competition. Washington will also visit 12th-ranked Pepperdine and could meet 10th-ranked Duke in ITA National Team Indoor Qualifying if both teams win their first round match. |
