Local Tennis Star Alex Conn Signs With Denison

Alex Conn, one of the top 20 junior tennis players in Maryland and the No. 1 singles player at , is taking his game on the road and will play this fall at Denison University.

“I visited all the liberal arts schools in Pennsylvania beforehand, but when I got to Denison, there was this vibe as soon as I entered the campus that it was the right place for me,” said Conn, a Pikesville resident. “The people were so friendly and the buildings on campus are beautiful.”

Conn recently signed a letter of intent to play at the Granville, OH, university.

The men's tennis team at Denison is among the top Division III schools in the country, with a current ranking of No. 27. However, the team is set to graduate six of its eight starting players in the next 15 months, which means expectations for Conn are high.

"We're going to have a deep team next year, but it will be a completely new starting lineup for his sophomore year," said Peter Bruller, Denison men's tennis coach. "It's important for us that Alex becomes an impact player within the next two years and I think he's capable of that. He's not the biggest hitter in the world, but he's very smart and very crafty out on the court."

Allan and Debbie Conn introduced their son Alex to tennis when he was 4 years old, but he played a number of other sports growing up, including soccer and basketball. It took several years before he abandoned team sports for the individual competition that tennis offers.

“Being by yourself on the court is something that really motivated me,” said Conn. “There’s not a team to help you out, so tennis requires more of you in some ways.”

Conn practices with his longtime coach Ross Coleman two hours a day, four days a week, at .

"Alex exemplifies hard work to me," said Coleman. "He's a gritty and competitive player, and possesses the kind of character that everybody wants on their team."

Conn said Coleman has helped him develop on the court. Still, there are things  to work on before playing at the college level.

“It’s really important for me to strengthen my serve because I’m one of the shorter guys a lot of the time,” said Conn, who stands at 5 feet 8 inches. “Ross has been so great with the mental side of things as well and really helped me with my confidence and attitude during matches.”

His progression on the court has been critical to the success of the boy’s tennis team at The Park School of Baltimore. Although they were typically known as one of the weaker teams in the MIAA conference, they came within one match of reaching the team playoffs last year.

Conn went 7-3 at the No. 1 singles position last year, which he said makes him feel confident about having a strong year in his final season of high school tennis.

“Every year has been an upward progression from the last,” said Conn. “On top of that, two of the three people I lost to last year were seniors who have since graduated.”

Despite Conn’s success at the state level, he said it was important for him to have a realistic approach when looking at colleges.

“If I went to a big Division I school, there wouldn’t be a guarantee that I would make the team. I wanted a school where I could play on the team, but also where the academics were good, and with a small enough campus so that it would be possible to become close to the professors. Denison was perfect on all those fronts,” he said.

Conn said he is considering a degree in psychology or business.