SKILLMAN, N.J. - Stanford, the most storied program in women's tennis history, which will also be hosting the NCAA Championships later this spring, nearly received a unanimous vote to return to the No. 1 spot in the Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings. After clinching a dramatic 4-3 victory over No. 2 Florida in the national title match at the 2010 NCAA Women's Team title tilt, claiming its 16th NCAA championship and first since a dominant three-year title run ended in 2006, there is little doubt that the Cardinal will return as the favorites in 2011.

However, the consensus in the men's poll indicates a year-long battle for the coveted top spot, as Virginia jumped two spots from its No. 3 finish in the final spring 2010 rankings, barely outnumbering the two-time defending USC Trojans for the first No. 1 ranking of 2011.

The UVA players had a very momentous fall during ITA National Championship play. For only the third time in the 32-year history and first time in two decades of the D'Novo/ITA Men's All-American Championships, one team advanced three different players into the singles quarterfinals while also capturing the D'Novo/ITA Men's All-American Doubles title. The Cavs also had five players selected to participate in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, which was more than any other men's or women's participating squad. They will be challenged by a USC team looking to capture its third straight NCAA team title and record 18th of all-time.

Follow the Leader: For the men, following Virginia is (in order): USC, Tennessee, Ohio State, Texas, UCLA, Baylor, Stanford, Florida and Texas A&M. On the women's side, Stanford is followed by: Florida, Baylor, Notre Dame, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan, Northwestern and California.

Conference Count: Men's Top 25: ACC - 6; Big 12 and SEC - 5; Pac-10 - 4; Big Ten - 3; Big East and West Coast - 1. Five different conferences placed at least one team in the top 10, with the Big 12 and Pac-10 leading the way with three teams each featured in the top 10 spots. Women's Top 25: ACC - 7; Pac-10 and SEC - 6; Big 10 - 3; Big 12 - 2; Big East - 1.  Five different conferences also placed at least one team in the top 10, with the Pac-10 leading the way with three California teams included.

Twice as Nice: An incredible 16 schools have both their men's and women's programs ranked inside this week's top 25. This total exceeds all of the weeks recorded in last year's weekly Campbell/ITA Division I Team Rankings.
 
Kicking Off 2011: The third annual ITA Men's and Women's Kick-Off Weekend will take place Jan. 28-31 at select campus host sites. This year's Kick-Off Weekend Draft took place June 2-3, as teams selected which route they would take to get to the 2011 ITA Men's and Women's National Team Indoor Championships.

The ITA Kick-Off Weekend features 15 men's and 15 women's host sites, with four teams at each site vying to advance to the Team Indoor Championships. The 15 men's teams to win both of their matches at these events will be invited to play in the Feb. 18-21 ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship at the Seattle Tennis Club (hosted by the University of Washington), while the 15 women's teams to win both of their matches will be invited to play in the Feb. 18-21 ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship at the Boar's Head Sports Club (hosted by the University of Virginia).

Next ITA Rankings: Weekly team rankings begin on Jan. 25. Singles and doubles rankings are published every other week starting Feb. 17. Campbell/ITA College Tennis rankings can be found at www.itatennis.com.