Dec. 11—JAMESTOWN — Elise Roberts' tennis career started with a trip to Dunham's Sports and a $ 10 racquet.

It's progressed a bit since then.

On Nov. 12, Roberts, a senior at Jamestown High School, signed to play collegiate-level tennis at the University of Jamestown.

"I have great teamwork, leadership and problem-solving skills that could be an asset to the team," Roberts said.

The JHS senior has certainly been an asset for the Blue Jays.

Roberts has been a part of the JHS tennis team for four years. She was named the Jays' No. 1 at the beginning of the 2025 season. At the No. 1 singles spot, Roberts turned in a regular-season record of 2-7. She and her primary doubles partner, Mylee Michel, went 4-4 at the No. 1 doubles position.

At the WDA Tournament, Roberts proved to be the only member of the Blue Jays' team who qualified for the individual portion of the 2025 NDHSAA Tennis State Tournament.

Roberts started the WDA tournament with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Bismarck High's Berkley Schettler. In the second round, Roberts picked up a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over McKenna Odahlen of Minot High to advance to the WDA quarterfinals. Roberts lost to Avy Ator of Williston in the quarters but was able to pull through in the consolation bracket and won her state qualifier 6-4, 6-2. Roberts defeated Abby Schmidt of Bismarck St. Mary's in the state qualifying match.

Her state tournament began with a match against current state champion Sarea Gu of West Fargo Sheyenne. Gu dispatched Roberts 6-1, 6-0. In the consolation bracket, Roberts defeated Grand Forks Central's Hawi Lemu 6-3, 4-6, 10-7. Roberts secured a spot in the final round due to an injury default by Alyssa Sommerfeld of West Fargo Horace. Last season concluded for Roberts in the state consolation semifinals. Roberts fell 7-5, 6-0, 10-5 to Georgia Zaun of Valley City.

Once her competitive season ended, Roberts went back to looking at playing college tennis — a process she first started in the summer of 2024.

"For me, this process involved a recruiting app called NCSA," Roberts said. "Through that app, I was able to connect with tons of college coaches all over the U.S. … At one point, I was considering about eight different schools … (but) once I heard that UJ was getting a women's tennis team, I knew that was where I wanted to go."

Roberts is a Jamestown native. Her mother, Lori is a teacher for Jamestown Public Schools while her father Aaron is a Jamestown Public School Board member.

"I mainly wanted to stay in Jamestown because I just love the community here," Roberts said. "Being able to go somewhere and see people I know gives me a sense of belonging. Plus, since I have grown up here, I don't have to waste time trying to get to know the town. I already know where everything is and what to expect. When I told my family about my decision, they were very excited for me."

Roberts will be UJ head coach Cameron Jackson's first local recruit. As of Dec. 9, there is only one other athlete, MyKaela Jorgenson, from North Dakota on the roster.

"What drew me to UJ was how dedicated and committed the team seems," Roberts said. "All of the girls on the team seem very sweet, so I am very excited to get to know all of them. I am also very excited to be able to further my education at UJ in preparation for my career."

While Roberts officially signed to UJ last month, her mind was made up by mid-October.

"I'd say this decision both adds pressure and alleviates it," Roberts said. "It is very nice to already know where I'm going to be next year and what I'm going to do. However, on the flip side, it adds pressure because I know how high that level of tennis is at the Division 2 level, so it is going to take a lot of work to not only be able to compete at that level, but also to remain at that level.

"When I received the offer I was just overcome with so much joy and relief because I had been working so hard to try and achieve this and now it is happening," she said.