New England Teams Compete for TOC Championship

ORLANDO, FL- The 64 best Tennis On Campus (TOC) clubs in the country battled for the ultimate prize from April 12-14, as they competed in the TOC National Championships at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, FL. New England sent six clubs to the National Championships. Teams were broken up into 16 groups of four. Each pool winner advanced to the Gold Bracket, second place advanced to the Silver Bracket, third went to Bronze, and fourth to Copper.

Ohio State took home their first ever national title, as they defeated the University of North Carolina in the finals of the Gold Bracket. The University of Michigan, last year’s champion, advanced to the Gold Bracket, but dropped their first round match to finalist, UNC. 

Like in last year’s National Championships, Harvard finished as the top New England Club in 2018. The two-time defending New England champions finished 21st overall and was just a single game away from doing even further damage. The Crimson handedly defeated Miami University of Ohio and Georgetown University in pool play but fell in heartbreaking fashion to the University of Georgia, 24-23, which as a result, earned Georgia a trip to the Gold Bracket.

In turn, Harvard earned a place in the Silver Bracket. In the first round, the Crimson defeated Texas A&M, the winningest program in TOC history, 22-18. They then fell to Florida to set up a match with arch-rivals, Yale. Harvard got the better of their New England foe, taking the match 24-13. Harvard then went on to defeat the University of Dayton to close out the tournament.  

Yale boasted New England’s second highest finish and improved by seven spots from last year’s 31st-place result. The Bulldogs had the unfavorable task of squaring off against UNC to open the tournament. After a hard-fought loss, they bounced back to defeat Penn State and Northwestern to close out pool play and secure a place in Silver.

Yale defeated Washington University in St. Louis in the opening match of the Silver Bracket, 23-22, and then fell to the University of Miami (FL) to set up the run in with Harvard. Yale placed 24th overall.

Northeastern rounded out the Silver Bracket for New England, taking home 32nd place. The Huskies won their first two matches in pool play to set up a battle of the unbeatens with Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly took the match, 30-10, to advance to Gold. Northeastern fell to the University of Colorado and Georgia Tech to close out their tournament.

In its first ever Nationals appearance, Boston University finished in 40th place and was New England’s only team in the Bronze Bracket. BU dropped its first two matches to Texas A&M and Stanford, and rounded out pool play with a 27-20 victory over the University of Oregon. In the Bronze Bracket, BU knocked out Georgetown and then fell to the University of New Mexico, Oregon State and Northern Arizona.

Dartmouth College and the University of Rhode Island represented New England in the Copper Bracket. Dartmouth picked up wins against the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Rochester and Miami Ohio while URI took down the University of Nebraska and Kent State.

Dartmouth finished 51st and URI placed 54th (one spot ahead of last year’s mark).

Complete results from the National Championships can be found here.