FOREST, Va. --- Washington and Lee University's dominance in ODAC women's tennis continued last season with the program's 30th overall and 18th league title, making it no surprise that the Generals top the 2022 ODAC Women's Tennis Coaches Poll ahead of the spring campaign.

W&L received 10 first place votes on the way to 121 total points. Sweet Briar College, which finished as the runner-up last season in their first championship match appearance, sits second in the annual survey with 108 markers and the remaining top nod. The University of Lynchburg stands third at 97 tallies, while Virginia Wesleyan University chimes in fourth with 85 points.

In the following sections, we take a quick look back at last season and some results from the fall as we get a feel for what to expect for the upcoming women's tennis spring campaign.

2021 ODAC TOURNAMENT | BRACKET
Play in the 2021 women's tennis tournament was altered from previous seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams played in four rounds on different days at campus sites rather than play through the first round and quarterfinals on campus sites and then travel to one campus for a joint "final four" experience with one men's tennis over two days.

• Washington and Lee and Sweet Briar squared off for the ODAC title
• The top-seeded Generals earned 5-0 victories over #9 Roanoke and #5 Virginia Wesleyan on the way to the championship match
• The third-seeded Vixens took down #6 Emory & Henry, 5-2, in the quarterfinals and then upset #2 Lynchburg, 5-4, in the semifinals, to setup a date with W&L for the league trophy
• In the championship, SBC earned an 8-2 win at #1 doubles behind Ruth de Souza and Allison Wandling, while W&L's duos of Becket Waters and Gabi Moss along with Izzy Koziol and Gracie Caplice posted 8-1 victories at #2 and #3 doubles
• The match closed with W&L picking up the necessary three points from three singles matches -- Taylor Garcia (6-2, 6-2) at #1, Margaret Carlton (6-0, 6-1) at #5, and Waters (6-0, 6-0) at #6
• The team win marked the Generals' ODAC record 30th overall and 18th straight league crown
• For Sweet Briar, the event marked the Vixens' first championship match appearance since the ODAC went to a head-to-head team tournament format in 2007

2021 NCAA DIVISION III TOURNAMENT - TEAM

• Automatic qualifier Washington and Lee represented the ODAC in the Division III team tournament
• W&L, ranked 18th in the country, hosted early round play and earned a bye through the first round of action; the Generals then took down TCNJ, 5-1, in the round two and dispatched of 24th-ranked Denison, 5-2
• In the quarterfinals, W&L dropped a 5-0 decision to #2 Wesleyan (Conn.) to close its season

2021 NCAA DIVISION III TOURNAMENT - SINGLES/DOUBLES

• W&L's Garcia, the ODAC Player of the Year, opened play in the singles tournament in the round of 32; she squared of with Risa Fukushige from Skidmore College and took the first set, 6-2; Fukushige went set #2 by the same score; Garcia led 6-5 in the third before Fukushige forced a tiebreaker, which she won, 7-4, to close Garcia's season
• Garcia finished 11-3 overall in singles play
• Sweet Briar's Allison Wandling and Ruth de Souza, who earned All-ODAC First Team honors as a doubles tandem, competed in the Division III doubles draw; they met Nicole Snezhko and Jannah El Nemr of St. Thomas (Minn.) in the opening round; the Vixens' pair led 4-3 in the opening set before weather forced a move indoors; the Tommie's squad used the six-mile trek to right themselves and earned a 7-5 first set win; UST's pair won the second set, 6-3, to cap Wandling and de Souza's campaign
• Wandling and de Souza went 21-2 overall in 2020-21; their appearance on the national stage marked SBC's first such qualification since 1990

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING NATIONALLY ENTERING THE 2022 SPRING SEASON

• ITA National and Regional Rankings - Team: the ITA has not yet published national or regional rankings for teams this year; the last ranking was on June 15, which saw Washington and Lee ranked ninth in the country
• ITA National and Regional Rankings - Individual (12/9/21):
  • National Singles: Washington and Lee's Gabi Moss is the highest rated singles player in the ODAC as she is slotted 11th in the country. Teammate Margaret Carlton is ranked 21st in Division III. Sweet Briar's Ruth de Souza owns the #32 position to cap the ODAC's list of nationally ranked players on the ITA's top-50 chart
  • National Doubles: SBC's de Souza and Allison Wandling are the lone ODAC representatives in the ITA's top-25 doubles rankings as the 17th-ranked pairing
  • Atlantic South Region Singles: Moss and Carlton are slotted fourth and sixth, respectively, in the Atlantic South Region rankings, while de Souza chimes in eighth; Shenandoah's Natalia Garcia-Molina is rated 17th, one slot ahead of W&L's Taylor Garcia following the fall season
  • Atlantic South Region Doubles: Wandling and de Souza are the fifth-ranked doubles team in the Atlantic South Region, representing the ODAC's lone duo listed among the region's top-10

RETURNING ALL-ODAC TALENT | 2021 ALL-ODAC WOMEN'S TENNIS AWARDS
There will be plenty of familiar faces returning to ODAC courts this year with all but six standouts from the 2021 All-ODAC awards lists back on league rosters. Washington and Lee has back each of their all-conference athletes, including ODAC Player of the Year Taylor Garcia and ODAC Rookie of the Year Gabi Moss. Sweet Briar head coach Dustin Hale earned ODAC Coach of the Year laurels after leading the Vixens to the program's first ODAC title match in the team tournament era.

   FIRST TEAM SINGLES

• #1 Singles: Christina Harris (LYN)
• #1 Singles: Taylor Garcia (W&L)
• #2 Singles: Allison Wandling (SBC)
• #2 Singles: Gabi Moss (W&L)
• #3 Singles: Kate Kotany (SBC)
• #4 Singles: Isabela Guilarte (SBC)
• #5 Singles: Claire Lacksen (W&L)
• #6 Singles: Gracie Caplice (W&L)

   FIRST TEAM DOUBLES

• #1 Doubles: Ruth de Souza/Allison Wandling (SBC)
• #1 Doubles: Gabi Moss/Becket Waters (W&L)
• #2 Doubles: Alissa Anderson/Lauren Pascadlo (LYN)
• #3 Doubles: Alexia Alfaro (SBC) -- partner Ruth Lechner graduated

   SECOND TEAM SINGLES

• #1 Singles: Ruth de Souza (SBC)
• #2 Singles: Christine Zalameda (VWU)
• #3 Singles: Alissa Anderson (LYN)
• #4 Singles: Lauren Pascadlo (LYN)

   SECOND TEAM DOUBLES

• #1 Doubles: Christina Harris (LYN) -- partner Caroline Guill graduated
• #1 Doubles: Lucy Collins/Halle Fernstrum (RC)
• #2 Doubles: Isabela Guilarte/Kate Kotany (SBC)

FROM THE FALL 2021
ODAC teams and student-athletes competed in several events during the fall campaign. Below a few highlights from those outings, offering a preview of what is to come during the spring slate.

• ITA Cup | W&L's Gabi Moss was one of 16 players to qualify for the ITA Cup from the fall regional process; Moss defated Miranda Yuan from the University of Chicago, 7-5, 6-2, in her first match before falling in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Eliza McPherron from Emory University, 4-6, 6-1, 6-0; in her consolation match, Moss lost to NYU's Dakota Fordham, 6-0, 6-2.
• ITA Southeast Region Championships | W&L's Gabi Moss and Margaret Carlton were joined by Sweet Briar's Ruth de Souza in the semifinals of the championship singles draw; Moss defeated de Souza, 6-1, 6-4, in one semifinal, while Carlton lost to Carnegie Mellon's Crystal Zhou, 6-1, 6-3, in the second semifinal; Moss finished as the runner-up to Zhou following a 6-2, 6-3 decision; SBC's de Souza and Allison Wandling advanced to the quarterfinals of the main doubles draw before bowing out; Shenandoah's Natalia Garcia-Molina advanced to the round of 16 in the main singles draw, while she and Jahveesa Combs advanced to the semifinals of the main doubles draw
• Early Head-to-Head Matches: Several schools competed in a handlful of head-to-head matchups; W&L and Roanoke played in the first ODAC match with the Generals earning a 9-0; Ferrum went 2-1 in three matches including a win over Hollins in a non-conference matchup

THE SCHEDULE AND TOURNAMENT

• ODAC teams will compete in a 10-match conference regular season using an unbalanced schedule
• Play in the spring season begins on Saturday, February 12
• The ODAC Tournament returns to its traditional eight-team tournament competed four three rounds with a final-four format at one host site
  
  • Quarterfinals: Wednesday, May 4, at #1-4 Seeds
  • Semifinals: Saturday, May 7, at Washington and Lee (later time slots)
  • Championship: Sunday, May 8, at Washington and Lee (later time slot)
• The selections for the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Team Tournament will be announced on Monday, May 9; the draws for the singles and doubles tournaments will be announced later that week

Listed below is the 2022 ODAC Women's Tennis Coaches Poll. For more information on ODAC women's tennis, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the ODAC's home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com.  Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and follow @odacathletics on Twitter and Instagram.

2022 ODAC WOMEN'S TENNIS COACHES POLL