BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s tennis signing class of Raveena Kingsley, Jade Lewis and Rebecca Weissmann has been named by tennisrecruiting.net as the No. 1 class in the country, the site announced Monday.
In November, co-head coaches Julia Sell and Michael Sell announced the signing of the trio. Kingsley is the No. 1 ranked American player with Lewis and Weissmann following at No. 10 and No. 13 place respectively.
“To have the number one recruiting class in the country is such an honor, but it is also a recognition of the direction of this program and all of the hard work that everyone has put into it,” co-head coach Julia Sell said. “Mike and I had such a fun time recruiting this class because as skilled as they are as tennis players, Raveena, Jade and Rebecca are also incredible young women. We are looking forward to having them in purple and gold.”
LSU is the only program in the country to sign three blue chip recruits. The Lady Tigers’ signing class earned 582 of a possible 600 points and 14 first-place votes from the 24-member panel.
Prior to this class, the Lady Tigers’ highest showing in the recruiting rankings came at No. 14 in 2013, Julia Sells’ first season with the program. Prior to the Sells’ tenure in Baton Rouge, LSU had not signed a blue chip recruit, but the Lady Tigers have signed five since the Sells took over the program.
Kingsley boasts a WTA World Pro ranking of 613 and has been ranked as high as 22 in the ITF World Junior rankings. A Fulton, Maryland native, Kingsley is the top-ranked player in the middle Atlantic area and Maryland.
The highest-ranked American signee in the history of the program, Kingsley has recorded five wins over WTA top-200 opponents. Kingsley owns a win over World No. 158 Cagla Buyukakcay at the USTA 25K Rock Hill event and defeated World No. 134 Andrea Hlavackova at the US Open Women’s qualifying event this year.
Lewis trains at Smith Stems Academy and is ranked second in the southeast and the state of South Carolina. The Hilton Head Island native holds a 45-23 record overall and 11-6 record vs. blue chippers. Lewis is ranked 59th in the ITF junior rankings and most recently advanced to the second round of the Australian Open Junior Championships.
Weissmann is ranked 13th in the country by tennisrecruiting.net and is 14th in the USTA standings. The Loveland, Colorado boasts a 32-12 overall record, which includes 11 wins over blue chippers. Weissmann is ranked first in the mountain region and in Colorado.
The signing of Kingsley, Lewis and Weismann marks the continued progression and development of the program under the Sells.
The success on the recruiting trail has paid dividends on the court as the team finished last season ranked 23rd and with a 20-11 record in dual match play. The Lady Tigers reached the 20-win mark for the third time in school history. The team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time and the semifinals of the SEC Tournament for just the third time.
Already this season, LSU is 5-0 and No. 18 in the ITA/Oracle team rankings. The Lady Tigers have three ranked win this seasons over No. 35 DePaul, No. 31 Rice and No. 24 Georgia Tech. The victory over the Yellow Jackets punched LSU’s ticket to the ITA Team Indoor Championships for the first time in school history.
For more information on the program, follow the Lady Tigers on Twitter @lsuwten and @LSUJuliaSell, on Instagram @LSUWTen and on www.Facebook.com/lsuwten.