ABILENE – A 9-3 overall record coupled with wins over top-flight talent from Pepperdine, Air Force and SMU propelled Abilene Christian senior
Josh Sheehy to his highest collegiate career ranking as he checked in at No. 100 Tuesday in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men's Rankings. This is Sheehy's second appearance in the national rankings. He made his debut at No. 111 in February 2018 after defeating then-No. 28 Edu Mena of Tennessee Tech.
Sheehy is the only Southland Conference competitor ranked in this week's survey (which lists 128 student-athletes), and his resume of singles matches this spring includes nine victories and three losses all to nationally ranked opposition. The Arlington native started the year with a supertiebreak loss to No. 62 Spencer Papa of No. 13 Oklahoma, and then after beginning the team's California trip beating Jakob Schnaitter (Azusa Pacific) and Adrian Oetzbach (Pepperdine) he fell in three sets to No. 89 Juan Carlos Aguilar of Texas A&M.
Since then he's won seven of his last eight matches with his lone defeat coming against Tulsa's 55th-ranked player Majed Kilani. During his current five-match winning streak his victories have come against No. 30 DIII player Jordan Pitts of Trinity, No. 3 JUCO standout Marcus Walters of Tyler, USAFA's Patrick Sklenka, Montana's Max Korkh, and SMU's No. 50 Carles Sarrio.
Sheehy beat his Mustang counterpart 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to clinch the Wildcats' 4-3 victory in Dallas on Feb. 22 – a triumph that earned him his eighth career Southland Conference Player of the Week citation.
Sheehy and the Wildcats return to action Saturday with an Arkansas doubleheader vs. Pine Bluff and Harding. The team will then head to Tallahasse for Spring Break where they'll battle Florida A&M and No. 37 Florida State. A week from Saturday they'll be back in Arkansas to face the 33rd-ranked Razorbacks.
FSU's Lucas Poullain is ranked one spot ahead of Sheehy at No. 99, while Arkansas claims two nationally ranked players in No. 53 Oscar Mesquida and No. 124 Adam Sanjurjo.
