Jan. 6, 2016 Summit League Release
ELMHURST, Ill. - Two-time reigning champion Denver is the favorite to claim the 2016 Summit League Women's Tennis Championship according to the preseason poll of league head coaches. The Pioneers claimed both the regular season and tournament titles in each of their first two seasons in the league.
Denver received six-of-seven first-place votes (coaches cannot vote for their own team) for a total of 36 points. South Dakota finished second with 28 points followed closely by 2015 tournament runner-up South Dakota State, which claimed the remaining first-place vote, with 27. IUPUI (21), Oral Roberts (16), Omaha (9) and Western Illinois (6) rounded out the poll.
#SummitWTN Preseason Notes
• Denver's Julia O'Loughlin is ranked No. 62 in the Jan. 5 ITA national singles rankings and No. 2 in the Mountain Region. Teammates Brianca Mok and Maureen Slattery are tied for No. 3 rankings in the Mountain Region.
• Denver's tandem of O'Loughlin and Slattery is ranked No 44 in the ITA national doubles rankings and No. 9 in the Mountain Region.
• Denver returns all of its league-high five all-league selections (Morgan Barnhill, Charlotte Derbyshire, O'Loughlin, Sonja Radosevic and Evy Van Genechten) from last season, each of which compiled a 7-0 league singles record
• Other 2015 all-league honorees returning include: Omaha's Michelle Lo, South Dakota's Yuliya Sidenko, South Dakota State's Iasmin Rosa, and Western Illinois' Courtney Lubbers
• Both DU's Radosevic and Van Genechten are tied for The Summit League's top career winning percentage (1.000) with identical 13-0 records
• Denver's O'Loughlin (18-3) returns the highest number of overall singles victories from 2015
• South Dakota State has won 15 Summit League matches since 2013, the most of any active league member during that three-year span
• IUPUI is coming off its highest league victory total (three) since 2012
#SummitWTN Schedule Notes
• The regular season begins Jan. 10 when Oral Roberts faces Abilene Christian and Oklahoma State
• Omaha hosts its first Summit League Championship with both women's and men's tennis contested in a four-team, single-elimination format, April 29-30
2016 WOMEN'S TENNIS PRESEASON POLL
Rank | School (1st-place votes) | Pts. | 2015 Record |
1. | Denver (6) | 36 | 15-9, 7-0 Summit |
2. | South Dakota | 28 | 8-11, 3-4 |
3. | South Dakota State (1) | 27 | 15-8, 5-2 |
4. | IUPUI | 21 | 7-11, 3-4 |
5. | Oral Roberts | 16 | 7-13, 2-5 |
6. | Omaha | 9 | 5-14, 2-5 |
7. | Western Illinois | 6 | 6-21, 0-7 |
Note: Coaches may not vote for their own teams
ABOUT THE SUMMIT LEAGUE In its fourth decade of Division I athletics, The Summit League offers 19 championship sports and has a combined enrollment of over 120,000 at nine institutions, including four located in top 60 U.S. metro populations and two land-grant universities. Member institutions include: Denver (University of Denver), Fort Wayne (Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne), IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis), North Dakota State University, Omaha (University of Nebraska Omaha), Oral Roberts University, the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University and Western Illinois University. Previously known as the Mid-Continent Conference, The Summit League rebranded in 2007 and has since produced eight NCAA Champions along with over 75 Academic All-Americans, 65 All-America selections and numerous former student-athletes competing at the highest professional level. In 2014-15, The Summit League ranked first for NCAA Graduation Success Rate in women's basketball and second in baseball. For more information about the league and to "See The Summit", visit www.thesummitleague.org website, follow The Summit League on Twitter @thesummitleague and watch the weekly "Inside The Summit League" show at www.thesummitleague.org/itsl.
