The men’s tennis recruiting class deserves a No. 5 ranking

WILMINGTON, North Carolina UNCW’s recruiting class for back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association men’s tennis champions is ranked fifth-best among mid-major schools by the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Coach Mait DuBois and the Seahawks, who have won three straight CAA titles and nine of the last 14, rank behind only Pepperdine, Liberty, Old Dominion and Florida Atlantic. UNCW is ahead of Boise State, VCU, Boise State and Northern Arizona, among others, and is the only CAA school listed in the rankings.

The survey covers all colleges that are not members of the Power 5 conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, PAC-12, SEC) and the Ivy League.

UNCW’s two recruits for 2023-24 are Jonathan Baron of Tel Aviv, Israel and Jordi Domenach of Almunecar, Spain.

The 6-2, 170-pound Baron signed with the Seahawks in early May and brings impressive credentials to the United States. He holds a career-high ATP ranking of 1218 in singles and a career-best ITF men’s ranking of 109. He was a semi-finalist at the ITF Future in Mozambique and has five ATP singles points to his credit. Baron’s highest UTR doubles ranking is 12.33 and 15 ATP points in doubles. His highest ATP ranking is 1232.

Domenach committed to the Seahawks in November. The 5-10, 165-pound southpaw was a semifinalist in Spain’s youth under-16 division and entered the main draw of the ITF Men’s Futures Events pair. He has an ITF ranking of 1,212 and a career-high UTR rating of 12.25.