Special from
Zoo Tennis
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Blue chip Ava Rodriguez grew up in Georgia, but had little familiarity with the storied college tennis programs in Athens. She had never visited the university, and after moving to Naples, Florida to attend the Gomez Academy in January of 2023, the 16-year-old high school junior had added to the distance between them.
Blue Chip Ava Rodriguez Has Committed to Georgia
© Zoo Tennis
Yet shortly after Rodriguez won the USTA Level 1 Easter Bowl 16s doubles title and claimed the bronze ball in singles, Georgia head coach Drake Bernstein and associate head coach Jarryd Chaplin bridged the geographic gap with a trip to the Gomez Academy to watch her practice. So when the recruiting window opened a few months later, Rodriguez was ready to respond.
"On June 15th, they reached out and we scheduled a call right that day; I think it was my first call from a college coach," said Rodriguez, No. 9 in the Tennis Recruiting Network Class of 2026 and No. 1 in the Southeast. "But I knew nothing about the school, nothing about the coaches. We just talked and I felt a connection and I committed pretty soon, maybe two weeks later."
Although that sounds straightforward, Rodriguez and her family had work to do in that fortnight.
"In June, when the recruiting begins, we got inundated, flooded with Instagram messages on that day," said Rodriguez's father Sam. "We were overwhelmed and overjoyed. As parents, you're like 'wow, it kind of turned out like we planned,’ but I didn't realize all this was going to come before."
