College Wheelchair Championships
Houston Captures National Collegiate Wheelchair Title
by Rhiannon Potkey, 15 April 2024
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The best college wheelchair players in the country showcased their skills in front of record-setting crowds over the weekend at the 2024 ITA National Wheelchair Tennis Championships.
The championships were played alongside the Billie Jean King cup tie between the United States and Belgium at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida, leading to an overflow of fans lining the courts to watch the coed wheelchair teams battle.
In Flight A, players were competing for a spot in the Final Four showcase at the NCAA Division I Singles Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma May 24-25. Arizona’s Eric Court, Alabama’s Martha Harris, Auburn’s Gabe Puthoff and Houston’s Nicholas Tijerina advanced. Their semifinal and final wheelchair matches will be played on the primary courts between the NCAA championship singles and doubles matches in Stillwater.
In the team competition, third-seeded Houston outlasted top-seeded San Diego State in a three-hour match.
Houston won the lone doubles point, with Jose Arriaga and Tijerina beating Manuel Gomez and Ryotaro Sakaguchi 8-6. The Cougars would need just one singles victory to secure the title, and Arriaga came through. He held off Gomez 6-2, 5-7, 10-6.
Houston’s win ended Alabama’s dynastic run. The Tide had captured the previous seven national titles.
In Flight B singles, Virginia’s Jacob Wald defeated Auburn’s Evan Heller 5-7, 6-4, 10-4 in the final. The title was the second straight for Wald after capturing the national championships last year in Flight C.
In this year’s Flight C final, Arizona’s Den Baseda beat teammate Anthony Lue 5-7, 6-4, 10-6. Baseda was appearing in just his third tournament ever.
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About Rhiannon Potkey
Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two
decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many
sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories.
Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national
events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches.
Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You
can reach Rhiannon by email at
[email protected].
