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Recruiting Feature
2013 Top Mid-Major Women's Classes
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Tennis is one of the most popular college sports around. There are almost 2,500 programs across the country playing intercollegiate tennis at some level.

With so many programs, it is not surprising that there is significant depth when it comes to talent and ability. Many of these talented programs come from so-called "Mid-Major" programs - programs outside of the few NCAA Division I conferences that regularly play football on ESPN.

 

Top 25 Mid-Major Women's Recruiting Classes (through May 24)

Today, the Tennis Recruiting Network is excited to present the Top 25 Mid-Major Women's Recruiting Classes for 2013. The mid-major conferences for tennis include programs from the America East, American Athletic, Atlantic 10, Atlantic Sun, Big East, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, CAA, C-USA, Great West, Horizon, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, SoCon, Southland, SWAC, Summit, Sun Belt, WCC, and WAC conferences from NCAA Division I - as well as all programs outside of NCAA Division I.

These rankings include players who will be incoming freshmen during the 2013-14 school year. We did not include transfers or players who enrolled in Spring 2013. This list is based on commitments reported on or before May 24, 2013.

So here they are... your Top 25.

 
Rank School Rating  Name State  Info
1 Houston Despoina Vogasari GRE
    R. Martin Fernandez ESP
    Joanna Savva CYP
2 SMU Daria Sharapova FL
    Rosalie Willig GER
    Anna Kate Anderson SC
    Macie Elliott IN
    M. Wright AR
3 BYU Mayci Jones CA
    Toby Miclat CA
    Savannah Ware CA
    Demi Daniels AZ
4 Furman Ansley Speaks SC
    Blair Martin FL
    Karlee Bryde GA
5 Denver Maureen Slattery VA
    Sonja Radosevic FL
6 Marshall Derja Turhan TUR
    Rachael Morales OH
    Anne Gulsrud NOR
    Anna Pomyatinskaya RUS
7 Portland Jelena Lazarevic SCG
    Lucia Butkovska SVK
8 New Mexico Rachana Bhat AZ
    Meredith Hopson TX
    Emily Olivier TX
    Dominique Dulski CA
    Susan Baklini NM
    Lizette Blankers NED
9 Boston U Barbara Rodriguez VEN
    Iris Lin CA
10 Louisville Cassie Pough FL
    Chloe Willetts NC
    Olivia Boesing IN
11 Pepperdine Yuki Chiang CA
12 UAB Giovanna Baccarini BRA
    Paula Castro ECU
    Catherine Ragon LA
    Pardis Kianoush GBR
13 Georgetown Victoire Saperstein NV
    Sophie Barnard NY
    Maggie Psyhogeos MA
14 Louisiana Tech Jazmin Britos PAR
    Marta Sramkova SVK
15 Florida Atlantic Kandis Legall FL
    Taylor Lederman FL
    Lyndsey Boos FL
    Alexa Ricci FL
    Bianca Biglione FL
16 Xavier Sydney Liggins MI
    Cristina Dilorenzo OH
17 Rice Alison Ho CA
18 Emory Michelle Satterfield AZ
    Melissa Goodman MA
    Katarina Su GA
19 Army Brenna Keller LA
    Nan Porter TX
    Allyson Hayley TX
    Caroline Lorenzini IL
    Taler Brazell NV
    Molly Prins VA
20 UC Santa Barbara Kaiulani Boyer CA
    Melissa Baker CA
21 Georgia State Marcia Tere-Apisah PNG
    Tarani Kamoe FIJ
    Madison Umbaugh GA
22 Cleveland State Princess Gbadamosi TX
    Lauren Golick OH
    Victoria Bensimon FL
23 East Carolina Samantha Light NC
    Michelle Castro VA
    Emily Groeneveld FL
    Elizabeth Zurawel NC
    Scarlett Walston NC
    Maria Storozheva RUS
24 Johns Hopkins Ashnaa Rao NC
    S. Demontesquiou CA
    Jody Law CA
    Amanda Austi NY
    Anna Kankanala NC
25 San Diego State Kennedy Davis CA
 

Honorable Mention

Other women's programs that received strong consideration from our experts are (listed alphabetically): Bowdoin, Charlotte, Connecticut, Eastern Michigan, East Tennessee State, Georgia College, James Madison, Liberty, Loyola Marymount, MIT, Stony Brook, UMass, UMBC, Western Michigan, William & Mary.

 

Prowling Cougars

Houston coach Patrick Sullivan has been extremely successful on the recruiting trail. Two years ago, Sullivan brought the top-ranked mid-major class to Stephen F. Austin. This year, he has done the same at the University of Houston.

Sullivan has attracted three strong international recruits to join the Cougar program. Despoina Vogasari of Greece is currently ranked No. 605 on the WTA circuit, posting nine wins on the Futures circuit last month and reaching the finals of the ITF Marathon Futures Tournament in Athens. Vogasari and fellow incoming freshman Joanna Savva of Cyprus are recruits who have competed in Federation Cup tennis for their countries. Vogasari and Savva have played Fed Cup for Greece and Cyprus, respectively. Rounding out the trio is Rocio Martin Fernandez who has reached No. 43 in the Spanish open rankings.

Southern Methodist has brought in some strong talent of its own. Five-star recruits Anna Kate Anderson and Macie Elliott are the top Americans joining the Mustang roster, and they are joined by German recruit Rosalie Willig (ranked No. 64 in the German Open rankings), Darya Sharapova, and 4-Star senior Mary Elizabeth Wright.

Rounding out the Top 5 are the BYU Cougars at No. 3, followed by Furman and Denver at No. 4 and 5, respectively.

 

State Breakdowns

This year's mid-major rankings features program from schools spread all across the country. The 25 recruiting classes come from institutions in 19 different states.

Leading the way - in terms of quantity and quality - is the state of Texas. As mentioned above, Houston (No. 1) and SMU (2) are two Texas schools that top our rankings, and they are joined by the Rice Owls (17).

California is the only other state with three ranked classes. The Pepperdine Waves have the highest-ranked class at No. 11, and they are followed by UC Santa Barbara (No. 20) and San Diego State (25).

Other states with multiple ranked classes are Georgia and Ohio - both with two programs in the rankings.

 

Conference Call

Although there are many states represented in our rankings, the number of conferences represented is much smaller. The 25 programs come from just eleven different NCAA Division I and two D-III conferences.

Leading the way in our recruiting class rankings is Conference USA. Six programs from the conference appear on the list, led by the Marshall Thundering Herd at No. 6. Joining Marshall from C-USA are UAB (No. 12), Louisiana Tech (14), Florida Atlantic (15), Rice (17), and East Carolina (23).

The newly-rebranded American Athletic Conference, - one of two conferences emerging from the old Big East - is also notable with three teams, and they are all in the Top 10. In addition to top-ranked Houston and second-ranked SMU, the AAC is represented by Louisville at No. 10 on the list.

Other conferences with mutliple ranked classes include the West Coast Conference (3 programs), Big East (2), Mountain West (2), and Patriot League (2).

 

Ahead... NCAA Division III Rankings

Two Division III programs had recruiting classes strong enough to make our list: the Emory Eagles (No. 18) and Johns Hopkins Bluejays (24). Both of these programs should figure rather prominently in our upcoming ranking lists.

Speaking of more rankings, next Wednesday, TennisRecruiting.net will release its ranking of the top 25 men's recruiting classes in NCAA Division III. Soon after we will wrap up our spring recruiting class rankings with the top D-III women.

 
 

About Inspiration Academy

Inspiration Academy is proud to sponsor the Roundtable Discussion series of articles at TennisRecruiting.net.

Inspiration Academy is a LIFE preparatory school that believes in training student athletes from the inside-out. Whether it's baseball, tennis, sand volleyball, Filmmaking, Music or strictly Innovative Education you're after, Inspiration Academy provides industry professional mentors specifically designated to each student for the most individualized training program you will find anywhere. With boarding, beaches, great training facilities and world class coaching - get Inspiration!

For more information on what Innovation Academy looks like, check them out on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube - or on their website.

 

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