A near-perfect weather weekend on 17 courts was featured as Lehigh University played host to 19 teams from 14 unique schools competing in this premiere event for collegiate club tennis from Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
When two of Pennsylvania's icons met in the final, the University of Pennsylvania Quakers ended the Penn State University Nittany Lions' four-year winning streak with a 27-18 victory in Sunday's championship match at the 2010 Middle States Campus Championships, held October 23-24 in Bethlehem, Pa.
Final Standings:
1. University of Pennsylvania
2. Penn State University “B”
3. Villanova University
4. Penn State University “A”
The top three teams will now represent USTA Middle States at the 2011 USTA National Campus Championships, where the No. 1 campus tennis team in the country will be crowned. The national championships are scheduled for April 7-9, in Cary, NC.
Based on the World Team Tennis (WTT) format, TOC includes five matches; men's and women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles.
In the final mixed doubles match, Quakers Hailey Weiss/Arjun Prabhu outdueled Nittany Lions Kayllie Wang/Shafique Dassila 6-4 to claim a nine point team victory and reclaim a title last won by the Quakers in 2004. Villanova, which fell short of its 2005 title, clipped Penn State University 'A' 25-24 for a third-place finish.
In its second year of existence, the 'Campus Cup' trophy was presented to UPenn's Weiss who smooched it before taking it back to spend the next year on the UPenn campus.
"Our sectional championships are a really cool event," stated Thane Schweyer, MS TOC Tournament Director (TD). "I visit Nationals each year and bring some innovative ideas back so our sectional event gets bigger and better each fall, "added the second year TD and a Gettysburg College graduate. "We make sure our participants have a great tennis time both on and off court."
On and off-court team members representing the University of Pittsburgh and Shippensburg University were all class as they were co-recipients of a the tournament's Sportmanship Award.
2010 participating schools were Bucknell University, University of Delaware, Drexel University, Lehigh University, Lafayette College, The College of New Jersey, University of Pennsylvania, Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, Rider College, Shippensburg University, Temple University, Villanova University and St. Joseph’s University.
About Collegiate Club Tennis
Collegiate Club Tennis was started 15 years ago as an option to active tennis players who didn’t want to play Varsity tennis. Over the past seven years the program has grown exponentially. All across the country, college students are becoming a part of this exciting coed tennis action that keeps their competitive fire burning and offers some serious fun. Having most recently adopted the name Tennis on Campus, which incorporates all non-varsity tennis activities on college campuses across the United States, the program has grown to reach more than 200 collegiate campuses. Tennis on Campus is ideal for players of all different skill levels.
If you played tennis on your high school team and miss the competition, or if you’re new to tennis and are just looking to meet friends who share your same interests there’s room for you on a team. Week after week throughout the year, intersection teams are competing against one another for section bragging rights and advancement to the annual USTA National Collegiate Championship.
For more information on the Tennis On Campus, please contact Thane Schweyer at
scheweyer@ms.usta.com or 484-872-8298.