Although the regular season doesn’t start until next quarter, the Washington men’s and women’s tennis teams have already earned bragging rights with individual preseason rankings.

On the men’s side, the number one and two players for Washington last year, senior Patrik Fischer and junior Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, are currently the 56th-and 74th-ranked players in the nation, respectively. These are their highest rankings yet, and the pair is expected to make some waves at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American tournament at the beginning of October.

Though the All-American is one of the most prestigious individual tournaments in college tennis, the upcoming Bulldog Classic in October, held in Fresno, Calif., will require a solid team performance.

Last year, the Huskies had an extremely young team with six freshmen, but many of the rookies found their places in the starting lineup. In addition to Nedunchezhiyan, the doubles team of sophomores Martin Kildahl and Tobi Obenaus is expected to be instrumental to the lineup.

This year’s well-rounded team will make postseason play another possibility for Washington, as the team has made the NCAA tournament 14 straight times and will be shooting for another trip this season.

For the women, there are no surprises as sophomore Venise Chan also earned a career-high preseason ranking of No. 28 in the ITA poll.

She led the team at the number one singles position last year and now with a year’s worth of college playing experience under her belt, along with her recent runner-up finish this summer at the ITF Khonkan Pro Circuit event in Thailand, she is expected to have an even stronger presence on the court this year.

Last season, the Husky women finally cracked the Top 40, a first for coach Jill Hultquist. This season, they have some of the top recruits from around the nation, including Denise Dy, ranked 42nd internationally among girls 18-and-under in 2006, and Samantha Smith, who reached a high of No. 25 in the national rankings of high school seniors last year.

Reach reporter Sheena Nguyen at

sports@dailyuw.com.