Laura Greb was considering the University of Akron for her tennis future.

While the incoming Knoch senior certainly has a future in the sport, it won't be there.

Akron is one of nine collegiate athletic programs to cut tennis within the past few months. In less than three years, 34 colleges or universities have eliminated their tennis programs.

Some have been cut because of the COVID-19 pandemic, others because of unrelated budgetary issues.

“I think it's a shame,” Knoch girls tennis coach Nance Conlon said. “I know tennis isn't an income-producing sport, but like golf, it is a lifelong sport. You can play into your 70's or 80's.

“It's also a game with the least risk of getting COVID-19. I mean, we have plenty of room to social distance on the bus and on the court.”

Conlon's daughter, Libby, will play college tennis at Washington & Jefferson.

“I'm very concerned about (high school) kids' chances of playing tennis at the Division I level,” Conlon said. “There are limited scholarships available to start with and a lot of those are taken up by kids from overseas.

“Division II and III level programs have academic scholarships and the tennis programs seem to be more stable there.”

Pitt and Robert Morris join Akron as other Division I schools in the region no longer offering tennis. Slippery Rock University dropped its men's program more than 10 years ago.

The Rock continues to offer women's tennis.

“The loss of our men's program was a Title IX issue,” SRU tennis coach Matt Meredith said. “We've got 15 women's tennis programs in the PSAC right now. That number's actually gone up with Shepherd joining our league and Lock Haven recently adding a program.”

Meredith said the lack of a facility on campus, coupled with the university joining the ACC, spelled the demise of Pitt's tennis program.

“If the courts aren't there, it takes a lot of money to clear space and build them,” Meredith said. “And the ACC is probably the best tennis conference in the country, so there wasn't much chance of competing there.”

Butler Country Club tennis director Whitney Snyder said that “without an on-site facility, it's difficult to promote the game.

“Inner-city schools just don't have the room. They need it for parking and buildings,” Snyder said of a lack of outdoor city courts.

BCC's youth tennis program peaked at 67 kids in 2008. Snyder has 44 kids ages 8-18 on the club's junior team this year. He had 53 a year ago.

Knoch's girls team has 12 players right now. Butler's girls team has 10 to 15 players, compared to 25 to 30 a number of years ago.

“The size of our student population has a lot to do with that, too,” Butler girls tennis coach Alisa Green said. “We used to have more than 1,000 students. Now there's 500-plus. There's not as many kids to draw from.”

There are more girls sports in the fall as well.

“Soccer, volleyball, cross country, cheerleading ... athletes have a lot of options,” Green said.

Retiring Butler boys tennis coach Dave Hartzell had 20 players on the roster when the Golden Tornado won the state championship in 2010.

He had 10 players last season.

“It's kind of sad,” Hartzell said. “I don't like where this is headed. The sport's popularity seems to be waning.

“I started playing during the era of Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe (1970's-80's). I played five days a week for 35 years. Sometimes you had to wait an hour or so to get on a court.”

Meredith counts himself among many senior-age tennis players who have switched over to pickle ball, a sport similar to tennis, but with far less physical movement.

“I had my hips replaced,” Meredith said. “So pickle ball is my game now. But tennis is still viable in a lot of areas. Grove City High School had 20 girls out for their team last year.

“On the world stage, tennis is still among the three most popular sports out there. Maybe not so much here, but in this era of social distancing, you may see it come back a little bit.”

Snyder admitted that “we live in changing times.

“There is more popularity in team sports today like soccer and lacrosse,” he said. “What's lost with the lack of tennis is the relationships, the friendships that are made.

“There are still a lot of club tennis programs offered by colleges out there. Those are coed, too, which brings people together.

Maybe tennis is on the decline somewhat, but it's still a great sport,” Snyder added.