Eastern at the 2024 NCAA Championships

Majoring in dominance. Multiple former Eastern juniors scored top marks at the 2024 NCAA Championships—with University of Miami standout Alexa Noel ultimately claiming the Division I women's singles title at the event. Noel—who grew up playing tennis in New Jersey—fought back from a set and a break down in the final to capture the championship over University of Georgia's Anastasiia Lopata, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. The match was hardly Noel's first time competing on one of the sport's massive stages; she previously reached the Wimbledon girls' singles final in 2019.

Michael Zheng—another Garden State player with a junior Wimbledon runner-up trophy—could also be seen in action on the last day of NCAA competition. The Columbia University athlete upset No. 7 seed Jake Fearnley and won four three-set matches in a row to reach the Division I men's final, where he ultimately fell to Alabama's Filip Planinsek in three close sets. Zheng wasn't the only former Eastern junior to make an appearance in the business end of the men's tournament. Competing in his first season with Harvard University, NYC's Cooper Williams battled his way to a quarterfinal berth. (He, too, lost in three sets to Planinsek.) Elsewhere, Eliot Spizzirri led the University Texas to the Division I men's team final, while Emil Grantcharov, Derek Hsieh and Jack Wong helped bring a Division III championship title to the University of Chicago.

On the back of her strong performance, Noel received a wild card into the main draw of the 2024 US Open, while Zheng received one into the men's qualifying event. The pair—along with Spizzirri and Williams—were also recently named to the Summer Collegiate Team, an initiative by the USTA to support elite NCAA athletes as they consider making the transition to the pro circuit. In earning a spot on the "team", the players will gain access to travel grants and coaching support as they look to contest various pro tournaments over the summer. 

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