Introduction

The pathway to US college tennis and the potential to receive an athletic scholarship is an incredible opportunity. Not only is US college tennis a great athletic and academic opportunity for a young aspiring tennis player and has a tremendous financial value, but there are many intangible benefits from pursuing this worthy pathway.

The US College Tennis Pathway

The US college tennis pathway starts with U10 and U12 players testing their skills at summer community clubs, then joining year-round competitive tennis programs and competing at local, provincial, national and potentially international events from U10 to U18 age groups.

After graduating from U18 junior tennis and high school, these youngsters are ready to pursue a US tennis scholarship. This pathway is a way to continue to play the game that many young athletes love and allows them to be a part of a team working together towards common goals all while enjoy the camaraderie with teammates and develop life-long friendships and relationships.

Note: Although many athletes start playing and competing early in their junior careers, it is important to know that it is possible to pick up a racquet at a later age and obtain an athletic scholarship to a US college.

Why College Tennis?

College tennis in the United States is an exciting and rewarding experience. College tennis gives you, the student athlete, the ability to improve your tennis while furthering your education and earning an accredited bachelors degree.

There is a tremendous financial value for aiming for an athletic scholarship.
Financial Considerations: The monetary value of a US College Tennis Scholarship

If you do not receive athletic scholarship aid, some student-athletes are offered a position on their school’s tennis team and receive an academic scholarship (depending on their SAT grades and high school transcripts). Other student athletes may be offered a part academic scholarship and part athletic scholarship.

Even if you do not receive any type of scholarship, college athletes may collect other significant benefits, such as:

Resources

Players seeking scholarships

INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

The NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA are the governing organizations of collegiate athletics within the United States.

Tennis is one of many amateur sports sponsored by these organizations and have produced some of its great athletes like James Blake (Harvard), Laura Granville (Stanford), Wesley Moodie (Boise State), Bob and Mike Bryan (Stanford), Peter Luczak (Fresno State) and Amer Delic (Illinois).

A number of Canadian players have also taken the NCAA route, including Carol Zhao (Stanford), Brayden Schnur (UNC) and Benjamin Sigouin (UNC).

Intercollegiate Divisions

The NCAA endorses three divisions of collegiate tennis within the United States:

Division I – Men
Division I – Women

Division II – Men
Division II – Women

Division III – Men
Division III – Women

Note: The top ranked D3 schools offer a very strong level of play equal to many of the D1 programs.

Founded in 1937, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) is a governing body of small athletics programs dedicated to intercollegiate athletics. It endorses one division of collegiate men’s and women’s tennis within the United States.

The National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) is the governing body of junior college, state college and community college athletics in the United States. It endorses two divisions of collegiate tennis for men and women respectively.

current Canadian NCAA Rankings

MEN

Singles (top 125)

  • #25 – Justin Boulais (Ohio State)   
  • #36 – Taha Baadi (Kentucky)                  
  • #48 – Alvin Tudorica (South Florida)            

Doubles (top 60)

  • #8 – Cleeve Harper (Texas)          
  • #23 – Josh Lapadat (Kentucky)  
  • #47 – Justin Boulais (Ohio State)                
  • #50 – Ilya Tirapolsky (Indiana)
  • #51 – Duncan Chan (TCU)               
  • #68 – Sébastien Collard (Michigan State)  

Teams (top 75)

  • #1 – Ohio State (Justin Boulais)
  • #2 – Virginia (Keegan Rice signed for next year)
  • #3 – TCU (Duncan Chan)
  • #4 – Texas (Cleeve Harper)
  • #5 – Kentucky (Lapadat, Baadi, Clément, Weekes)                             
  • #7 – Arizona (Nick Lagaev, Sasha Rozin)
  • #18 – Michigan State (Sébastien Collard)
  • #31 – Cornell (Samuel Paquette)
  • #58 – Virginia Tech (Maxime St-Hilaire)
  • #61 – Indiana (Ilya Tiraspolsky)
  • #69 – South Florida (Alvin Tudorica)

Unranked

  • William and Mary (Alexandre Leblanc)
  • Clemson (Stewart Aronson)
  • Penn State (Chris Heck, Stefan Simeunovic)
  • Gonzaga (Sasha Trkulja)
  • Dartmouth (Henry Ren)

WOMEN

Singles (top 125)

  • #36 – Mia Kupres (Texas A&M)                
  • #54 – Jessica Alsola (California)        
  • #72 – Bianca Jolie Fernandez (UCLA)
  • #74 – Ariana Arseneault (Auburn)       
  • #96 – Alexia Jacobs (Washington)

Doubles (top 60)

  • #5 – Mia Kupres (Texas A&M)             
  • #9 – Ariana Arseneault (Auburn)       
  • #14 – Mélodie Collard (Virginia)      
  • #18 – Annabelle Xu (Virginia)             
  • #57 – Alexia Jacobs (Washington)  
  • #59 – Teah Chavez (Ohio State)         
  • #61 – Raphaelle Lacasse (Nebraska)                

Teams (top 75)

  • #6 – Virginia (Mélodie Collard, Annabelle Xu)
  • #11 – California (Jessica Alsola)
  • #12 – Ohio State (Teah Chavez, Alessia Cau)
  • #13 – Texas A&M (Mia Kupres)
  • #16- Auburn (Ariana Arseneault)
  • #17 – UCLA (Sasha Vagramov, Bianca Fernandez)
  • #20 – Georgia Tech (Scarlett Nicholson)
  • #27 – Vanderbilt (Kayla Cross signed for next year)
  • #28 – Washington (Sarah-Maude Fortin, Alexia Jacobs, Catherine Gagnon)   
  • #34 – Arizona State (Rachel Hanford)
  • #35 – Arizona (Martyna Ostrzygalo)

Unranked

  • #62 – Iowa (Vipasha Mehra)
  • Mississippi State (Alexandra Mikhailuk, Dharani Niroshan)
  • Gonzaga (Ella Nielsen)
  • Miami (Ohio) (Catherine Denysiewicz-Slowek)
  • Nebraska (Raphaelle Lacasse)