NCAA Title Bookends For UNC’s Reese Brantmeier At USTA National Campus

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

As a freshman in 2023, Reese Brantmeier was the No. 1 singles player on the University of North Carolina’s team that won the NCAA team title at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida. Four years later as a senior at the same USTA National Campus, Brantmeier was the No. 1 player in the NCAA women’s singles championship as the last player standing as the tournament winner.

Brantmeier became North Carolina’s second ever NCAA singles champion by defeating California-Berkeley’s Berta Passola Folch 6-3, 6-3 to win the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Singles Championship.

“It’s been a pretty cool full circle,” said Brantmeier for her team and individual NCAA titles at the USTA National Campus over her four-year period.

To boot, the USTA National Campus was also where Brantmeier trained as junior player prior to enrolling at North Carolina. Brantmeier was one of the top American junior players and was invited to stay and train on the campus by the USTA’s Player Development program as her hometown of Whitewater, Wisconsin was not conducive to high performance training, especially in the winter months.

“I had the opportunity to train with Player Development for many years so I’m no stranger to Lake Nona,” she said. “I’m lucky to have that experience here. I think that definitely helped me feel comfortable on these courts.”

The courts at the USTA National Campus, however, may not be Brantmeier’s most endearing courts. That distinction may belong to the public tennis courts in her hometown of Whitewash, Wisconsin that she personally raised almost $200,000 for their refurbishment after years of neglect.

“We had our grand opening this past July,” said Brantmeier, who said she is still fundraising to help the city have enough money for future maintenance of the courts. “The high school teams have been practicing there, all the local people have been practicing there. They’re open to the public, 24/7, and we have a free checkout system of racquets and balls throughout all the local schools and public libraries. So, it was just our goal to make tennis for everyone, and there shouldn’t be any financial barrier if anyone wants to play, they should have that opportunity. And that has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done in my life and getting to just see the pure joy for the sport has really reconnected me with that as well.”

Brantmeier’s NCAA singles title is a milestone moment for UNC’s women’s tennis program as she became only the second Tar Heel in history, after Jamie Loeb in 2015, to win the NCAA singles crown. Beyond her NCAA team title in 2023 and her singles title in 2025, Brantmeier’s college career has been highlighted by a host of accolades: 2025 ACC Player of the Year, first-team All-ACC in singles and doubles, an All-American in both disciplines. She also owns the title of ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, demonstrating her ability to excel in the classroom as much as on the court. In fact, after winning her NCAA title, she had to rush to the airport to catch a flight back to North Carolina to be able to take an exam at 8 am the next morning.

However, her career hasn’t been all roses by any stretch of the imagination as she has endured numerous surgeries on her leg that prevented her from competing in the NCAA singles or doubles competitions during her sophomore and junior years. Entering this NCAA singles competition, she had not won an NCAA singles match in the singles championships, having lost in the first round of the event as a freshman in 2023.

On a broader scale, Brantmeier has been an outspoken voice off the court too as she is part of a class-action lawsuit challenging NCAA rules on prize money, a fight she has balanced alongside her playing career.