Stanford women, men ranked high; Volynets in semis

   The Stanford women, who have won the last two NCAA titles and three of the last four, are fourth in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason team rankings released today.

   Ranked ahead of the Cardinal are, in order, North Carolina, UCLA and Texas. California is 19th. 

   The Stanford men are ranked fifth behind, in order, USC, North Carolina, Ohio State and Michigan. Cal did not crack the top 25.

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — In a battle of San Francisco Bay Area teenagers, top-seeded Katie Volynets outlasted Vivian Ovrootsky 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the first-place playoff in Newport Beach, Calif.

   Volynets, a 19-year-old pro from Walnut Creek, is scheduled to meet Jessica Luisa Alsola of Fresno, Calif., on Saturday in the $25,000 tournament. Alsola, who's headed to Cal in the fall, defeated Camille Kiss, a UC Santa Barbara freshman from Redlands, Calif., 6-1, retired.

   Ovrootsky, 16, of San Jose has verbally committed to the University of Texas for 2022.

   In the quarterfinals of the third-place playoff, Filippa Bruu-Syversen of Chatham, N.J. beat Priya Nelson, 15, of Sacramento, Calif., by walkover. Bruu-Syversen plans to enroll at UCSB in the fall. 

   Tomi Main, a high school junior from Seaside, Calif., planning to attend Texas Tech in 2022, is slated to play Isabella Chhiv, a high school sophomore from Irvine, Calif., on Friday at 9 a.m. in the quarters of the third-place playoff. Live streaming is available.