By Alyssa Whitney

The fifth annual USTA Tennis On Campus Fall Invitational took place on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina October 10-12.

The event served as the kickoff to the Tennis On Campus season.

Forty-eight teams competed in the event, a jump from last year’s 32 teams. To accommodate the spike in numbers, nearby Shipyard Resort—which has four additional courts—was used as a third site of play. The Invitational hosted 40 unique schools, and eight of those schools—Armstrong Atlantic State, Boston College, Coastal Carolina University, Cornell University, Indiana University, Mercer University, Middle Tennessee University, and Virginia Tech University—played at the Invitational for the first time.

The 48 teams were divided into pools of four teams each where each pool was a round robin and all teams played each other. The top two teams in each pool advanced to the Gold Bracket and into competition for the Invitational title. The Silver Bracket was comprised of the bottom eight 2nd place teams and top eight 3rd place teams, the Bronze Bracket of the bottom four 3rd place teams and the top four 4th place teams, and the Copper Bracket of the bottom eight 4th place teams. Teams had a minimum of six matches and a maximum of seven matches depending on their bracket.

USTA Tennis On Campus strives to provide college students with opportunities for team building, networking, and competition.

The University of Florida became the first repeat winner of the Invitational as the Gators defended their 2013 title with a 25–18 win over Auburn University at the Palmetto Dunes Tennis Center. Max Koller, a sophomore at UF, said, “It was a long tournament and all the teams were really good. The talent level was extremely high and we’re happy to repeat as champions.”

UF and Auburn earned bids to compete at the 2015 USTA Tennis On Campus National Championship—a NIRSA Championship Series event—which will be held April 9–11 in Cary, North Carolina. Both teams faced tough semifinal matches to make it to the finals. Florida was able to win after a super tiebreaker against the University of Georgia’s “B” team—ultimately prevailing with a final score of 23–22—while Auburn beat North Carolina State “A” 23–16.

Schools across the country participated in the Invitational. Colorado School of Mines travelled over 1,700 miles to attend the tournament this year.

NC State “A” was down by two points going into the final mixed doubles match, but pulled out a win for a 22–21 victory over the University of Georgia “B.” This crowned NC State “A” with the third place title for the second year in a row. NC State won the Bronze title at the 2014 Tennis On Campus Nationals this past April. Alabama won the Silver Bracket, Ohio University won the Bronze, and Indiana University captured the Copper. Past Gold Bracket winners of the USTA Tennis On Campus Fall Invitational include the University of Alabama (2010), the University of Virginia (2011), and Duke University (2012).

We look forward to seeing more excellent matches at the 2015 USTA Tennis On Campus National Championship in April!