When Alex Baker '09 came to Brown his freshman year, he joined the men's club tennis team, which at that time "was very disorganized and lacked any formal structure" and had a budget of $90, according to Baker's letter to the United States Tennis Association earlier this month. But with the help of the USTA and the hard work put in by Baker and other members on the men's club tennis team, the team has grown tremendously in the past two years.
This year, for the first time, the team, along with the women's club tennis team, qualified for the USTA National Campus Championships after claiming the New England title in the regional tournament. The team competed in Nationals last weekend in Cary, N.C., and finished 10th out of a field of 64 teams.
The USTA tournament follows the World Team Tennis format in which each school sends 10 people, women and men combined, to compete in men's and women's singles and doubles, as well as mixed doubles. Some of the teams at the tournament had coaches, but the Brown team did not, and co-captain Cory Harris '10 thought it was a good thing.
"It was clear during the tournament that the fact that we don't have a coach actually brought the team together more," Harris said. "We made decisions as a team."
Harris said the team did very well at Nationals and everyone was pleased with the result, especially given that it was the first time the team competed in the tournament.
"The first day, we won our pool and advanced into the Gold Bracket (which had 16 teams)," Harris said. "We lost in the Round of 16 but won the following two consolation matches before losing the last two consolation finals."
When the team won the New England Sectional, the USTA awarded the Bears $1,000 to cover the expenses of attending Nationals. The Rhode Island division of the USTA also gave the Bears $300 for general club growth.
All the co-captains mentioned the incredible amount of growth of the team in the past two years.
"The team has come a long way," said co-captain Paul Bixenstine '08. "Prior to this tournament, we were not really involved in any real leagues. Now we send people to lots of tournaments and we have regular practice time for the players."
The men's side currently has 30-40 members and 16 players who compete on a regular basis. Their success has spilled over to the women's side as well. Prior to the last few years, the women's club team barely existed, but it has grown alongside the men's team, according to Baker's letter to the USTA.
The two sides teamed up to host their first tournament last semester in November with 16 teams participating. They will host their second tournament of the year on May 3.
"In the future years, we hope to host two tournaments at Brown every year, one per semester," Harris said. "The more we grow, with more funding, we can send more people to multiple tournaments."
