Tennis On Campus Nationals Preview
Brown University headlines a seven-team New England field that will compete at the Tennis On Campus National Championships from April 6-8 in Surprise, AZ. Brown defeated Harvard University in the Gold Bracket Final back in October to win its third consecutive New England Sectional Championship and fifth since 2012. Harvard will be joining Brown at Nationals, along with MIT, Tufts University, Yale University, Northeastern University and Dartmouth College, which finished 3rd to 7th respectively in New England.
Brown placed third overall at last year's Nationals event, which set the mark for New England's highest finish ever.
New England clubs will compete agasint the the 64 best club teams throughout the country in bracket play and then single-elimination format for the title of Tennis On Campus National Champion.
Here is a closer look at the seven New England squads:
Brown University
Nationals Roster:
Arjun Shanmugam, Co-president ‘23
Ellen Yoo, Co-president ‘23
Talia Vasaturo-Kolodner, Co-captain ‘23
Justin Song, Co-captain ‘23
Isabel Cossio, Co-captain ‘24
Grant Lumkong, Co-captain ‘25
Sean Yamamoto MS ‘23
Dorra Guermazi ‘24
Ty Cohen ‘25
Sofia Egge ‘26
What makes this Brown team so special?
We’re like one big family. We also have really strong players in singles and very strong teams in both doubles and mixed doubles - and a lot of players who excel in both singles and doubles.
What were some of the highlights from this year's New England Sectionals?
This year’s Sectionals experience was unique in that we were behind in almost every mixed match we played in almost every round. We fought back with our mixed doubles team of Sofia and Sean, subbing in when needed in tiebreaks too. We almost didn’t make it to nationals (placing in the top 7) - but ended up winning the tournament. The highlight was winning the tournament - for the second year in a row - and being the champions since 2019.
What are your team goals or expectations heading into this year's Nationals?
We’re expecting to have a great time as a team and to bring our best level of competition to the tournament. While our team last year was incredible and we miss those who graduated (and we placed 3rd in the Gold Bracket), we also have new talent and a different dynamic this year that we’re so excited to bring to Arizona.
How many Nationals in recent years has your team competed in? Do you have any returning players from those past teams?
Our team has participated in Nationals three times in the past five years (2019 we won Sectionals and qualified for Nationals in 2020 but it was canceled due to Covid, and in 2021 it was canceled again.)
What are you looking forward to most about competing on the National stage?
This year, what we’re looking forward to most is bringing our strongest level of competition to the National stage and having a great time together as a team.
Any fun facts about your team you'd like to share?
We’re a pretty diverse team with players from London, Hawaii, California, Virginia, Ohio, Massachusetts, Maryland and North Dakota.
Harvard University
Nationals Roster:
Alan Tu - senior, Captain & President
Cosette Wu - sophomore, Captain & President
Ammaar Saeed - senior, Vice President
Nneka Arinzeh - sophomore, Vice President
Sarah Rojas - sophomore, Treasurer
Sebastian Edin - graduate student
Owen Sughrue - senior
Alex Li - first-year
Nicole Lee - first-year
Do you have any team traditions?
We have team dinners every Monday at 5:30pm in the most beautiful dining hall on campus.
What makes this Harvard team so special?
Our team is like Silicon Valley: we are a source of constant innovation. We've invented a few awesome tennis games, including Tringles and Heartburn, and we love putting new spins on old classics.
What were some of the highlights from this year's New England Sectionals?
We were runners-up at Sectionals, our best performance in recent memory. Harvard didn't host the tournament this year, so we had a lot of fun traveling as a team and admiring the fall foliage along the way. Despite illnesses and injuries that left our team shorthanded on day two, our doubles teams secured important wins under pressure to help us reach the championship match.
What are your team goals or expectations heading into this year's Nationals?
Besides enjoying the sunshine, we're hoping to crack the top twenty and improve on our placement from last year. Only four of us have competed at Nationals before (Cosette, Ammaar, Nneka, Sarah), and none of us have played in Arizona.
Note from Captain Alan Tu
Club tennis was the first organization I joined at Harvard, and it's become one of the most important parts of my college life. I made the Nationals team as a freshman, but the pandemic canceled that year's and the following year's tournament. Last spring I didn't attend since I was working abroad, so this will be my first (and last!) trip to Nationals, which is crazy to think about. I'm looking forward to trying new things (which will be everything), meeting teams from around the country, and hitting some epic drop shots.
MIT
Nationals Roster:
Jupneet Singh, Senior, Captain, President
Alex Barksdale, Grad student
Alex Cohen, Grad student
Nikhil Gupta, Grad student
Noah Golowich, Grad student
Arun Kannan, Grad student
Kelly Wu, Sophomore, VP
Joyce Luo, Grad student
Maggie Lin, freshman, Exec
Tatiana Vassilev, freshman, Exec
Do you have any team traditions?
A lot of us do jumprope, we cheer for each other, and we stretch together!
What makes this MIT team so special?
Tennis is something that bonds us all together but we also spend time together outside of practice, and support each other!
What were some of the highlights from this year's New England Sectionals?
This year we broke a record – we placed the highest we ever have – 3rd!! We really were in-tune and dialed in as a team, more so than other years. A lot of us had played together for a few years now and our goal was clear! Our moments getting the bid was definitely the highlight.
What are your team goals or expectations heading into this year's Nationals?
We hope to break some team records as Nationals as well!! We hope to do really well in our group and bracket.
How many Nationals have you competed in in recent years?
This is our second year going to Nationals in a row. We have lots of returning players! However, this is a lot of our first time’s going to Arizona
What are you looking forward to most about competing on the National stage?
We’re really looking forward to bringing our A game to Nationals and bonding as a team! Roll Tech!
Tufts University
Nationals Roster:
Marianna Schantz, Captain, Class of 2023
Rachel Finkel, Class of 2023
Arpan Barua, Class of 2023
Jack Davis, Class of 2025
Yvonne Lopez-Davila, Class of 2025
Max Samuels, Class of 2025
Kate Parsons, Class of 2026
Kailey Takaoka, Class of 2026
Utsav Subramani, Class of 2026
Do you have any team traditions?
Before our matches, we get in a circle for a pep talk -- usually run by the amazing Arpan Barua. We go over strategy, hype ourselves up, and scream JUMBOS at the top of our lungs!!
What makes this Tufts team so special?
We are a very close-knit team, and we have team dinners and hangouts outside of the court. Everyone gives their best in the matches, and we all love hanging out together!!
What were some of the highlights from this year's Sectionals experience?
Our major highlight was defeating Dartmouth and earning a spot for Nationals for the first time in seven years. This was probably the most exciting moment in club tennis ever, and it was really special for the seniors to experience this. We are so excited for Nationals!
What are your team goals or expectations heading into this year's Nationals?
Our team goal is to play hard, have fun, and give it our all. We are excited to spend more time with each other and hype everyone up during the matches!
What are you looking forward to most about competing on the National stage?
We are looking forward to competing at a higher level against schools from all across the country that we would not normally play. And being in warm weather Arizona (a definite plus side after being in cold Boston).
Any fun facts about your team you'd like to share?
Every Halloween, we conduct "Dractice" where we play in our costumes!! It is hilarious.
Yale University
Nationals Roster:
Cameron Janssens ‘24 (Captain)
Maria Bambrick-Santoyo ‘24 (Captain)
Brandon Alexander PhD ‘24
Olivia Aspegren ‘23
Yigit Kilicoglu ‘25
Josephine Baggen PhD ‘28
Bradley Bennett ‘25
Anna Calame ‘23
Sam Charney ‘26
Do you have any team traditions?
Before every match, we gather in a circle to do a team cheer. As far as practice goes, there is not a day that goes by where we don’t play at least one game of dingles. We like to call it the official game of Yale Club Tennis!
What makes this Yale team so special?
We are a diverse group of people, strongly connected by our love of tennis! Among the players traveling to Nationals alone, we have players representing all four years of undergrad, a player from Turkey and one from the Netherlands, two PhD students, and are studying topics ranging from physics to history to computer science.
What were some of the highlights from this year's Sectionals experience?
It was our team’s first time playing on the courts at Smith College in Northampton, MA, and we really enjoyed the great scenery and the tournament’s seamless operations. Overall, it was a great weekend full of strong competition, and we are looking forward to building on our success this year in Arizona!
What are your team goals or expectations heading into this year's Nationals?
We want to play the best tennis we can, while supporting each other on and off the court. It would also be awesome if we could place higher than we have in past years!
How many Nationals have you competed in in recent years?
Yale Club Tennis has competed at TOC Nationals for the past few years. This year, our roster features three Nationals veterans.
What are you looking forward to most about competing on the National stage?
We are looking forward to the chance to compete with teams from all over the country, many of which we have never played before. Most of our team has never been to Surprise before, so we’re also excited about getting to explore a new city while playing a sport we love.
Northeastern University
Nationals Roster:
Christine Lee, 2nd year, Captain/Treasurer
Natalia Roca Ward, 3rd year, Women's Club President
Shane Lerkvikarn, 3rd year, Men's Club President
Alejandro Colmenares Zerpa, 2nd year, Secretary
Saanvi Vutuker, 1st year, Practice Coordinator
Ashley Ghaw, 5th year, Team Member
Phisutisak Ngernkuakul, Graduate Student, Team Member
Joshua Song, 2nd year, Team Member
Elliot Goodman, 2nd year, Team Membe
Do you have any team traditions?
Whenever we travel to tournaments or scrimmages, getting food together is a must! We never pass up the opportunity to try good foods when we go to unfamiliar towns/cities. We also love to end our practices with touch the fence, which is a game that has stuck with our team for years.
What makes this Northeastern team so special?
The most special part of our team is the bond we all share. The shared interest of tennis has allowed us to meet our closest friends who we can spend time with on and off the court.
What were some of the highlights from this year's New England Sectionals?
Last year, we earned the very last bid for nationals in an extremely tight match, and we knew the competition would be fierce this year. While we felt a lot of pressure going into Sectionals this year, we tried our best to stay calm and relaxed and we played our best, and we ended up playing even better this year.
What are your team goals or expectations heading into this year's Nationals?
While our goal for Nationals is obviously to play well and win as many matches as possible, we also want to take the opportunity to connect with other players and meet new people from all over the country.
How many Nationals in recent years has your team competed in?
Northeastern competed in TOC Nationals last year, as well as a couple times prior to COVID-19. We have one returning player, but for everyone else, it is their first time competing at Nationals, and we are all extremely excited!
What are you looking forward to most about competing on the National stage?
We are looking forward to the high level of competition as well as the great weather in Surprise, Arizona. We finally get to escape the cold of the Northeast!
Dartmouth College
Nationals Roster:
Veda Sane, ‘23 (President)
Vandana Venkatesh, ‘23 (Captain)
Jack Keating, ‘23
Elaine Sarazen, ‘25
Nina Prakash, ‘25
Adriana James-Rodil, ‘25
Andrew Xu, ‘25
Arjun Anand, ‘26
Tobin Yates, ‘26
JJ Dega ‘26
Do you have any team traditions?
We have a chant we do right before each match. What it means is a secret, but it is what hypes the team up the most because we only do it before matches.
What makes this Dartmouth team so special?
Compared to most other teams we've had, we are very small. We are only bringing our 10 players this year. We are very close and are almost like a family as a result.
What were some of the highlights from this year's New England Sectionals?
This year’s Sectionals experience was rather intense. Because we have such a small team, we were barely able to fill the lineup since sectionals fell during midterms for us. The quarter system is not necessarily the most conducive to participating in club tennis, ha. In the end, it came down to the last match. Our players really stepped up to clinch our spot. Celebrating making it to Nationals was a blur of excitement and hugging.
What are your team goals or expectations heading into this year's Nationals?
We are hoping to have some really solid matches with competitive opponents and most of all, have fun. Nationals is the most exciting tournament of the year. A lot of us grew up playing USTA tournaments, so it’s very common to run into close friends or even former opponents. It’s one big reunion for really great tennis players! Our team is really looking forward to it.
How many Nationals in recent years has your team competed in?
We have made it to Nationals every year in recent memory, but with COVID, only got to attend last year. The last time before that was 2018. We have a few returning players: Veda Sane ‘23, Elaine Sarazen ‘25, Nina Prakash ‘25, and Andrew Xu ‘25.
What are you looking forward to most about competing on the National stage?
Nationals is such a great environment: a blend of excitement, competition, determination, fitness and camaraderie. We are so ready to put our hard work this past year to the test with some new players and vigor.
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