Bolton Named ITA National Player to Watch

TEMPE, Ariz. – Sophomore Elysia Bolton of the UCLA women's tennis team was named ITA National Player to Watch, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced during a special virtual awards ceremony Monday.

The award, presented annually since 1985, honors a returning student-athlete who is expected to have an outstanding collegiate season next year. Bolton, who was previously tabbed the Southwest Region's winner, became the first Bruin to earn the national accolade since Sara Walker in 2000.

Bolton was chosen from a list of regional honorees that also included Emma Antonaki of Mississippi State (Southern Region), Iuliia Bryzgalova of Pennsylvania (Northeast), Martina Capurro of Oklahoma (Central), Cameron Corse of Notre Dame (Midwest), Paola Diaz-Delgado of VCU (Atlantic), Victoria Flores of Georgia Tech (Southeast), Mariia Kozyreva of Saint Mary's (Northwest), Tatiana Makarova of Texas A&M (Texas), Taylor Melville of Denver (Mountain), Rebeka Mertena of Tennessee (Ohio Valley) and Cameron Morra of North Carolina (Carolina).

The 2019 ITA Southwest Region Rookie of the Year had a stellar follow-up campaign, as well, despite the shortened season. On top of achieving All-America status again for her singles play, Bolton formed the nation's top-ranked doubles team with redshirt senior Jada Hart. The pair collected the doubles title at the Oracle/ITA National Fall Championships and went on to go 18-3, including a 10-1 record in dual matches. Bolton/Hart was selected to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships All-Tournament Team after earning wins versus Emilee Duong/Josie Frazier of Illinois, No. 15 Victoria Allen/Petra Hule of Florida State, No. 25 Emily Arbuthnott/Angelica Blake of Stanford and No. 6 Sara Daavettila/Alexa Graham of UNC. Bolton/Hart went 7-1 in matches completed against nationally-ranked opponents.

In addition to holding the top spot in the doubles lineup with Hart, Bolton played almost exclusively on the No. 1 singles court. There, she went 6-3 and registered an 11-5 mark overall. Six of those wins came versus nationally-ranked foes, including No. 13 Haley Giavara of California and No. 25 Angela Kulikov of USC. Bolton advanced to the singles quarterfinal round at the ITA All-American Championships and singles third round at the Fall Championships, with decisions over No. 31 Diaz-Delgado and No. 37 Vivian Wolff of Georgia along the way. She reached a career-best No. 9 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings.

Bolton has collected an array of honors in her two seasons as a Bruin, including a spot on the All-Pac-12 First Team and the Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year award in 2019. She has twice been named Pac-12 Player of the Week.