Three Baylor women’s tennis student-athletes were included in the Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Women’s Division I National Rankings released on Wednesday.
Senior Blair Shankle led the way with a No. 7 singles ranking. She is one of nine Baylor players to earn a Top 10 individual ranking, joining Jahnavi Parekh, Zuzana Zemenova, Zuzana Cerna, Lenka Broosova, Nina Secerbegovic, Sona Novakova, Diana Nakic and Ema Burgic. Shankle, who was ranked No. 54 in the fall, is the first American player in program history to appear in the Top 10.
The Dallas, Texas, native compiled a 10-2 record in the fall, winning singles titles at the Bush’s $50,000 Waco Showdown Wildcard and the ITA Texas Regional Championship by Oracle. As a junior, Shankle played her way to a 16-6 record overall and a 14-4 mark in dual-match singles play en route to All-Big 12 first team honors.
Freshman Jessica Hinojosa will begin her debut season with the Bears as the No. 117 rated singles player in the country. In her prep career, she was ranked as high as No. 56 nationally by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The Guadalajara, Mexico, native won ITF B3 JITIC (Central America & Caribbean) Championships both in singles and doubles and was a finalist for the ITF G1 Singles Championship in singles before arriving at Baylor.
Sophomore Elizabeth Profit and Shankle earned a No. 15 national doubles ranking after a stellar fall season paired up on the court. The duo recorded a 7-2 record and won the ITA Texas Regional Championship Presented by Oracle.
Baylor opens the regular season at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Rancho Mirage, Calif., from Jan. 13-16, at Sunrise Country Club.
