LAKE NONA, Fla. — The USTA is preparing to make history as the first venue to host every NCAA tennis championship in one season.

What You Need To Know

  • USTA campus will host DI, DII, and DIII men's and women's NCAA tennis championships

  • The Lake Nona campus is the first venue to host every tournament

  • Elisaa Hill has overseen the planning of the NCAA tournaments with the USTA 

  • Hill brings collegiate tennis playing and coaching experience to the role

This includes the championships from both men's and women's NCAA tennis for DI, DII and DIII. 

The USTA campus in Lake Nona has hosted numerous tournaments in the past, including the DI NCAA Championships, and officials said they felt their facility was equipped to handle the biggest month of college tennis. 

Leading the charge with the USTA is Elissa Hill, the senior director of collegiate tennis who has been working with USTA for more than 10 years. She joined the USTA team after a variety of experience throughout the sport: playing collegiately at Nebraska and Virginia Tech.

Hill also became a coach, and was named the America East Coach of the Year during her time with SUNY Albany.

 

Hill said she brings a unique perspective, as a previous student-athlete and coach, to the planning of the tournaments. 

"I always keep the student athletes and coaches as the No. 1 priority," said Hill.

The tournaments have culminated after more than a year of planning from Hill and her team, ensuring health and safety measures, creating a student-athlete tent with video games, snacks and a cooling system to beat the heat, and more. 

“You know as you go through this process there are a lot of times, and I think anyone in events relates to that, where you're working 6 a.m. to midnight and you're just hopeful that its for a good reason," said Hill.

On the eve of the NCAA coming to Lake Nona, Hill says she likes to sit on the court and look out at the signage, something she always does before a major event, and reflect on how proud she is of the team. 

"You sit here and you think, ‘Wow this team really did it and really came together,'" said Hill. "There's 17 days of competition and there’s just a lot of firsts and its just something to be so excited about."

DII men's and women's tennis started Thursday. DIII tennis starts at USTA on Saturday, and DI tennis joins in Lake Nona beginning Wednesday, May 17.