The Out-of-Door Academy senior Caroline Dailey signed a national letter-of-intent this morning to play tennis for the University of South Carolina.

With her parents Lisa and Peter Dailey and her coach Mike Wilson by her side, Dailey made her college intentions know in front of her classmates during an assembly in the school’s Petrik Thunderdome.

“It’s incredible,” Dailey said. “I’ve been working for this my entire life. I didn’t take the traditional (college recruiting) route, so it was really huge for me to find a coach who could look past all of that and see my potential as a player.”

Dailey, who is ranked 1158 by the WTA world rankings, chose South Carolina over the University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University, the University of Illinois and Florida State University.

Dailey said she is looking forward to the challenges that come from being a part of a collegiate athletic program in the hopes of taking her one step closer to fulfilling her lifelong dream of being a professional tennis player.

“It’s going to be an entirely knew atmosphere,” Dailey said. “(ODA) is small and I’ve (always) had its support. (South Carolina) is going to be a lot bigger, but tennis will allow me to still have that small atmosphere and support group. I’m just excited to be somewhere else and start fresh.”

During her time at ODA, Dailey won three-consecutive women’s singles state titles before taking last season off to focus on national and international tournaments. This spring, Dailey could return to ODA’s girls tennis team to try and help the Lady Thunder win a state title as a team.

For a complete story on Dailey’s signing pick up the Nov. 22 issue of the East County Observer.

Contact Jen Blanco at jblanco@yourobserver.com.

 

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