2022 NCAA DI Championships: Cleeve Harper takes home doubles championship crown

The 2022 DI Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championship came to end this past weekend, with many Canadians making an appearance on their respective qualifying teams. The event was held in Champaign, Illinois, where 64 men’s and women’s teams from across the United States battled for the Championship crown.  

On the men’s side, University of Florida’s Ben Shelton won in the singles format against San Diego University’s August Holmgren 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to provide Florida with back-to-back singles championship titles.

In doubles, it was the University of Texas’s and Calgary, Alberta native Cleeve Harper and doubles partner Richard Ciamarra who claimed the title. Harper was named this year’s Big 12 Individual Champion at No. 1 in doubles, alongside Ciamarra. The duo defeated Ohio State’s Matej Vocel and Robert Cash 5-7, 6-4, 10-7. This granted the Long Horns their first doubles title since 2015.

In team action it was the University of Virginia who claimed the overall Men’s Championship title for the fifth time in program history, with a dominant win over Kentucky, sweeping the Wildcats 4-0. 

Another Canadian who made it into the quarter-final round was Montreal native Gabriel Diallo from Kentucky University. Diallo advanced to the Elite Eight after a thrilling match against Ohio States Vocel, winning in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. He then fell to Adam Walton of Tennessee 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 in another close matchup. 

Here’s how the remaining Canadians on the men’s side fared: 

• Justin Boulais, a junior from Mississauga, Ontario, alongside James Trotter of Ohio State made it to the round of 32 before falling to Baylor’s Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi and Matias Soto in the doubles format 
• Ninth-seeded Juan Carlos Aguilar, who resides in Montreal, Quebec, and attends Texas Christian University, fell in the round of 32 to Louisiana State’s Ronnie Hohmann in singles 
• Newmarket native Liam Draxl was forced to retire due to injury during the round of 64, leaving Eduardo Nava to move on to the next round. 

2022 NCAA DI Women’s Championship Outcome

For the women, it was the University of Texas’ No. 2 seed Peyton Stearns who won the singles championship to defeat Stanford’s Connie Ma in straight sets. Texas also won the championship title in the team’s format this year, making them back-to-back champions the past two years. For women’s doubles, North Carolina’s top-seeded Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller took home the championship trophy, winning against the Miami University duo Daevenia Achong and Eden Richardson in straight sets 6-2 7-5. 

Despite failing to take home any hardware, the Canadian women played some great tennis at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex.

• Markham native Layne Sleeth, a junior from the University of Oklahoma, made it past the round of 64 before falling to No. 27 singles ranked Haley Giavara in the round of 32
• Carson Branstine the winner of both the 2017 Australian and French Junior doubles title alongside compatriot Bianca Andreescu lost in the round of 64 to Natasha Subhash of Virginia 
• The Mississauga native Isabelle Boulais who is a senior at Ohio State University, fell in the round of 64 to University of Mississippi’s Sabina Machalova from Czech Republic

Next year, all the teams from the NCAA Division I, II, and III will make their way to Orlando, Florida, for the USTA National Championship. This will be the first time in NCAA history that one venue will host all six events in one given year.