NCAA Update: Collard Wins DI National Doubles Title – Tennis Canada

Melodie Collard could not ask for a better finish to the 2024 calendar year. The 21-year-old from Gatineau, QC, who plays for the University of Virginia reigned supreme at the 2024-25 NCAA Division I Individual Tennis Championships last week, claiming the doubles title with regular partner Elaine Chervinsky.  

Let’s catch up with the latest news from Canadians competing in the NCAA.        

Despite being the No. 3 tandem in the NCAA’s pre-season rankings, Collard and Chervinsky were unseeded at the National Championships. The pair were the definition of clutch at the tournament in Waco, Texas, winning all five of their matches in a match tiebreak. The first three were all won 10-7 followed by a 10-8 squeaker in the semis. In the title match, Collard and Chervinsky came back to defeat Kate Fakih and Olivia Center of UCLA 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 to win the title.  

Collard defeated two of her fellow Canadians on the way to the final, beating Reece Carter and Alexia Jacobs of the University of Washington in the first round.  

Since the start of the academic year in September, Collard and Chervinsky have an astounding 17-1 record and are currently on a 13-match winning streak that includes their title at the DI Atlantic Regional Championships last month. The national title is the first doubles crown for the University of Virginia in the program’s history. The only other players from the school to win the national title, both in singles, were WTA stars Danielle Collins and Emma Navarro. 

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Collard is the first Canadian to win a national individual title since Cleeve Harper won the men’s doubles for the University of Texas in 2022 and the first woman since Ayan Broomfield won the doubles for UCLA in 2019. Mia Kupres and Carson Branstine won the national team title with Texas A&M earlier in 2024. 

Annabelle Xu, Collard’s fellow Virginia Cavalier, competed in both singles and doubles in Waco, reaching the second round of each draw. 

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Two other Canadians competed at the National Individual Championships. Jessica Alsola of the University of California, Berkeley, lost in the first round of the women’s doubles, while Duncan Chan of Texas Christian University went out in the first round of the men’s singles.  

Click here to view all the Canadian rankings in the NCAA.