College Commitment
Spring Signing Week '11: Scatliffe Heads to UCSB
by Rhiannon Potkey, 15 April 2011
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It would be easy to assume UC Santa Barbara had a huge advantage in recruiting April Scatliffe.
After all, her older sister, Charlotte, played for the Gauchos and is now an assistant coach for the team.
But the sibling connection actually made April scrutinize the university even more.
The Redlands, Calif., resident thought she wanted to blaze her own trail at a different school and not be in her sister's shadow.
But the all-encompassing lure of UCSB was too strong to ignore. Scatliffe knew she couldn't turn down the offer, and signed to play for the Gauchos.
"I could tell my sister really wanted me to go there, but she really didn't try to recruit me at all," Scatliffe said. "She wanted me to make my own decision and didn't want to sway me. She knew I had different options and wanted to let me figure them out myself."
Having visited UCSB's campus frequently while her sister was on the team, Scatliffe was familiar with the location and the academic offerings.
"Pretty much everything about it was attractive to me," she said. "I loved the area and I have never lived near the beach before. Plus, it's close enough to home that if I want to come home I can, but not too close where I feel like I am still at home and can do my own thing."
The Scatliffe family has a rich legacy of playing Division I tennis.
Scatliffe's father, V.J., played two years at UCLA, her older brother, Malcolm, played at Penn State and her sister played at UCSB from 2004-2008 before joining the coaching staff.
