BETHANY BEACH, DE- Brown University is the 2019 Tennis On Campus (TOC) Battle of the Sections Champions. The Bears were one of four New England representatives at the annual event held at Sea Colony Resort in Bethany Beach, DE, that pits TOC teams from the New England, Eastern, Middle States and Mid-Atlantic USTA Sections to determine ultimate Northeast TOC bragging rights.

Brown was joined by Yale, Harvard and Boston University as the New England representatives in Delaware from September 28-29.

The 16 teams were broken up into flights of four, with one team from each section per flight. Brown, Yale and Harvard each won their flight and advanced to the Gold Bracket.

In the semifinals, Brown defeated Harvard while Yale took down Cornell. Brown then prevailed against Yale in the all-New England final to capture their first Battle of the Sections title and New England’s eighth in the 13 years of the event.  

Boston University reached and won the Bronze Bracket, as they defeated UPenn and Carnegie Mellon in the semis and finals respectively.

USTA New England caught up with Brown Senior Captain, Matt Miller, to discuss his team’s recent success.

What was the overall experience of Battle of the Sections like for Brown?

The Battle of the Sections event was super fun! It was like a weekend vacation with great tennis! We got to go to the beach and everything. I am so so lucky to have amazing teammates that I love spending time with. 

What was the excitement level like for you guys in the semis and finals?

The excitement level was really high! I don't think any of us expected to win the whole title, but we went out and tried our hardest, had fun and brought our A game! It was super cool to have New England opponents in the semis and finals—really shows how crazy competitive our section is! 

So many elite teams competed at this year’s event. What was it about this team that separated you from the rest of the field?

Honestly, I think what gave us the win in the end was just how close our team is. I'm speaking for myself of course, but my club tennis teammates are some of my closest friends. I'm really sad to be graduating at the end of this year because I am going to miss them so much. But I know that the up-and-coming captains are going to do a great job. 

Brown finished third at last year’s New England Championships. How much confidence does this win give you now heading into this year’s event?

It is definitely a great win to go into Sectionals with. I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but we are going to try our best at Sectionals and see what happens! Whatever happens, I just want to emphasize again how proud I am of our team and how incredibly fortunate and lucky I am to be close friends with these amazing people.