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)

  • #21 – Taha Baadi (Kentucky)                  
  • #32 – Justin Boulais (Ohio State)   
  • #45 – Alvin Tudorica (South Florida)            

Doubles (top 60)

  • #6 – Cleeve Harper (Texas)          
  • #13 – Josh Lapadat (Kentucky)                  
  • #40 – Duncan Chan (TCU)               
  • #48 – Ilya Tirapolsky (Indiana)
  • #79 – Sébastien Collard (Michigan State)  
  • #80 – Maxime St-Hilaire (Virginia Tech)     

Teams (top 75)

  • #1 – Ohio State (Justin Boulais)
  • #2 – TCU (Duncan Chan)
  • #3 – Virginia (Keegan Rice signed for next year)
  • #5 – Kentucky (Lapadat, Baadi, Clément, Weekes)                             
  • #7 – Arizona (Nick Lagaev, Sasha Rozin)
  • #12 – Texas (Cleeve Harper)
  • #16 – Michigan State (Sébastien Collard)
  • #43 – Indiana (Ilya Tiraspolsky)
  • #46 – Cornell (Samuel Paquette)
  • #65 – Virginia Tech (Maxime St-Hilaire)
  • #73 – Dartmouth (Henry Ren)
  • #74 – William and Mary (Alexandre Leblanc)

Unranked

  • Clemson (Stewart Aronson)
  • Penn State (Chris Heck, Stefan Simeunovic)
  • Gonzaga (Sasha Trkulja)
  • South Florida (Alvin Tudorica)

WOMEN

Singles (top 125)

  • #30 – Mia Kupres (Texas A&M)                
  • #35 – Jessica Alsola (California)        
  • #65 – Bianca Jolie Fernandez (UCLA)
  • #70 – Ariana Arseneault (Auburn)       
  • #115 – Mélodie Collard (Virginia)     

Doubles (top 60)

  • #6 – Mia Kupres (Texas A&M)             
  • #12 – Mélodie Collard (Virginia)      
  • #18 – Annabelle Xu (Virginia)             
  • #19 – Ariana Arseneault (Auburn)       
  • #55 – Alexia Jacobs (Washington)           
  • #61 – Orly Ogilvy (Yale) 
  • #62 – Jessica Alsola (California)
  • #66 – Sasha Vagramov (UCLA)
  • #71 – Raphaelle Lacasse (Nebraska)                

Teams (top 75)

  • #4 – Virginia (Mélodie Collard, Annabelle Xu)
  • #9 – Ohio State (Teah Chavez, Alessia Cau)
  • #12 – Auburn (Ariana Arseneault)
  • #13 – Texas A&M (Mia Kupres)
  • #17 – California (Jessica Alsola)
  • #19 – UCLA (Sasha Vagramov, Bianca Fernandez)
  • #25 – Washington (Sarah-Maude Fortin, Alexia Jacobs, Catherine Gagnon)   
  • #26 – Georgia Tech (Scarlett Nicholson)
  • #30 – Arizona State (Rachel Hanford)
  • #33 – Vanderbilt (Kayla Cross signed for next year)
  • #41 – Arizona (Martyna Ostrzygalo)
  • #75 – Nebraska (Raphaelle Lacasse)

Unranked

  • Iowa (Vipasha Mehra)
  • Mississippi State (Alexandra Mikhailuk, Dharani Niroshan)
  • Gonzaga (Ella Nielsen)
  • Miami (Ohio) (Catherine Denysiewicz-Slowek)