News & Features

College Commitment
Spring Signing Week '08: Ryan Ybarra Announces
by Gregg Jones, 11 April 2008

Five-star recruit Ryan Anthony Ybarra had already turned down scholarship offers to schools in California and South Carolina when he noticed the hit on his TennisRecruiting.net profile several weeks back.

The teenager from the piney woods of East Texas confesses that he didn't know much about the University of North Carolina Wilmington, the school that was checking him out. He fired off an email to head coach Mait DuBois, and a trip was arranged.

"It's one of the nicest places I've ever been to," said Ybarra, 18, recalling his official visit to Wilmington over Easter weekend. "The school itself is like five minutes away from the beach, so that didn't hurt it at all."

After touring the campus, visiting with coaches and players and watching the Seahawks battle nationally ranked Drake University in a dual match, Ybarra was hooked. Ybarra received a scholarship offer before boarding his flight back to Texas. After talking it over with his parents, he committed to the Seahawks last month.

Ybarra plans to formalize his decision by signing a national letter of intent.