TCU club tennis has earned itself a spot in the United States Tennis Association on Campus National Championship (USTA).
The team will compete against 63 other colleges and universities for the title in Orlando, Florida from April 11-14.
“Going to nationals means that our team has the privilege of representing TCU in a unique way,” senior club president Abby Till said. “It is always an honor to show the rest of the country what being a Horned Frog is all about.”
The bracket has yet to be announced, but senior team member Joel Wright said he thinks TCU’s pool will include teams like UCLA and Auburn.
Past national champions include the University of Michigan, the University of California, Berkeley and Texas A&M University.
The TCU club team is a member of the Texas section of the USTA. They compete against teams such as Big 12 schools like Baylor and the University of Texas, as well as Texas A&M and other Texas colleges and universities. As a member of the UTSA, the team competes in weekend tournaments as well as sectional championships.
At sectionals in February, multiple teams from the Texas section of colleges and universities competed for the Texas Champion title. The top finishers at the USTA On Campus Texas Championship were granted automatic bids to the national championship.
However, getting there will not come cheap. The total cost for the team to travel to Orlando is almost $6,000. While the club team received money from SGA and a stipend from USTA Tennis On Campus Texas, it was still short.
The team had to create a GoFundMe page to raise the difference in their cost. It came through, raising $860 from donations.
The last time the team appeared in the national championship was in 2015 at North Carolina. The team finished 1-2 in its pool, where they played Auburn and the University of California, Irvine.
Till said the team is excited about its potential and the competition at this year’s national championship.
“I expect the team to of course play their very best and show that we are a competitive club tennis team,” Till said. “More simply, I expect the team to showcase good sportsmanship and teamwork and have a lot of fun playing the sport we love.”
