‘A special group’: Utah women’s tennis team returns to NCAA Tournament for first time in 14 years

Utah’s women’s tennis team gathered in the lobby of the Eccles Tennis Center and watched Monday’s NCAA tournament selection show with anticipation, nervousness and excitement.

The Utes ended the season with a 15-9 record and an ITA team ranking of 38, and were on the bubble of an at-large bid to the 64-team NCAA tournament.

“I think we all knew, just as a team, we’re good enough to play in this tournament and we’ve had great results,” said senior Emmie Moore. “We were all just really hopeful that we could get another chance at it because we’ve had a great season, a couple losses at the end, but we know overall as a team we’re pretty hard to beat and I think we could hang with anyone and beat anybody.”

As Utah’s name flashed across the screen during the selection show, the room erupted in cheers, with players hugging each other and celebrating the Utes’ invitation to the dance.

For the first time since 2012, the first year the Utes were part of the Pac-12 Conference, Utah is headed to the NCAA women’s tennis tournament, where it will face Cal (No. 22 in the ITA rankings) in the first round.

“I think they’re thrilled to be going and representing the University of Utah and proud to be able to be the team that’s finally going back to the NCAAs for the U.,” said coach RuthAnn Allen.

This season, the Utes posted a winning record in conference play (8-5) for the first time ever as a member of a power conference. Utah’s NCAA Tournament hopes were buoyed by a nine-match win streak that started with a 4-2 win over rival BYU and continued through Big 12 play with the Utes defeating West Virginia, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, Colorado, Oklahoma State, Kansas State and TCU.

“I think this year with this team, it’s been a special group and we’ve really been able to come together and just make the most of it. We’ve had a lot of fun during the season and that’s shown,” said Ute No. 1 singles player Emma Kamper. “Obviously we’ve worked hard, but yeah, we’ve been able to come together and really, really get some important wins like winning against TCU at TCU. I feel like that was a really big win for us.”

Despite a four-match losing streak to end the season, including a loss to BYU in the first round of the Big 12 tournament, Utah’s string of wins in March was enough to make it back to the NCAA Tournament.

“I think for us as a team, we all just came together and it was really fun because we all were just playing matches next to each other and giving it our all. It was fun to feed off each other’s courts to see the momentum we could build up,” Moore said. “So I felt like that was really exciting for us to keep building the momentum and play for each other instead of just ourselves.”

Friday’s NCAA Tournament showdown against Cal will mark a turning point for Utah’s program. For years, the Ute women’s tennis program faced an uphill battle in the Pac-12, which featured national-championship-level teams like Stanford and UCLA.

After Utah women’s tennis coach Ric Mortera resigned in June 2024, shortly before the Utes entered the Big 12, athletic director Mark Harlan hired Allen as Utah’s new coach.

Allen had been on staff as a Utah assistant coach for 21 seasons, including 12 consecutive years under Mat Iandolo, before becoming Weber State’s head coach in 2019. In Ogden, Allen led the Wildcats to a Big Sky regular-season championship and earned Big Sky Coach of the Year honors in 2023.

Utah, however, has always been home, dating back to her All-American playing career in the early ’90s, and she was excited for the opportunity to lead her alma mater.

Allen took over in July 2024 and, due to the mid-cycle hiring, had to hurry and gather a team ahead of the fall schedule. The Utes ended up with just a seven-woman roster in the 2024-25 season, but three players that decided to stay amid the coaching change — Kamper, Sara Akid and Kaila Barksdale — have become important players on this year’s team.

“Luckily when I was hired, there were some good players already here, and then I just had to add to it and help them with belief. And so I got a good head start when I had been hired,” Allen said.

Utah also landed Emma Valletta from VCU in Allen’s first year as coach. Though the Utes went 9-15 in the 2024-25 season, they had found their core group, which gained valuable experience that year.

This offseason, Utah added Moore, who grew up a Ute fan and transferred from BYU.

“It’s been awesome. I’ve always been a big Utah fan, so transferring here and getting to play with some of my best friends, it’s been a big deal and it’s just been really exciting. The coaches have been so awesome about getting us hyped and it’s just been a really special year,” Moore said.

Kamper has led the way in the No. 1 single role with a record of 16-3, while Akid has tallied a 14-3 record, Barksdale is 12-2, Moore is 13-8 and Valletta is 11-8.

“I think the team came in and they have worked really hard and that has been instrumental in their progress, and then they have also really become a family and worked hard together and fought hard for each other. So I think that was the difference,” Allen said of the improvement in this year’s team.

Utah will face one of its biggest tests of the season in Cal, which boasts NCAA singles championship runner-up Berta Passola Folch (No. 22 ITA) and two other players — Johanne Svendsen (No. 35 ITA) and Mao Mushika (No. 99 ITA) — that are ranked in the top 100 singles players.

The Utes are ready for the challenge.

“I think going into NCAAs, we’re all just really excited to fight our hardest and hang with any big team. Cal’s a good team. So we’re excited to just show them what we got and to compete and just go in with a lot of energy,” Moore said.

On Friday, Utah’s team will do what no Ute women’s tennis team has done in 14 years and play in an NCAA Tournament match.

They hope it’s just the beginning for the program.

“It’s such a great feeling. I played here on a top 25 team and it’s fun to see the team getting back to where I think they should be,” Allen said.