PENN TWP — For the past few years, Elise Held pursued a goal.

This week, she caught it.

The Butler resident and Vincentian Academy senior has signed a letter of intent to play tennis at Davidson College.

"I'm so happy," Held said. "I wanted to put myself in position to get a Division I scholarship and I was able to do that."

Between academics and athletics, Held is close to receiving a full ride to attend Davidson, located near Charlotte, N.C.

Held also considered Fairfield, Pitt, Wofford and Fordham before selecting Davidson.

"That's like the Ivy League school of the south," said Frank Baritot, Held's coach at Winwood Athletic Club in Wexford. "The academic end of this process was very important to Elise."

Held is carrying a 4.87 grade point average at Vincentian and plans to major in pre-med. Her future goals don't involve tennis. She wants to get into medical school and become a doctor.

During her high school career, Held lost two section matches her freshman year — and never lost another one, going 98-2.

Held won WPIAL doubles as a freshman and was second as a sophomore. She was second in WPIAL singles as a sophomore and junior, and was fourth this season.

In this year's Section 3-AA tournament, Held lost only two games, winning matches by scores of 10-0; 6-0, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-0.

"She's so energetic and intelligent," Baritot said. "Elise has developed into a fine all-court player. She can do well along the baseline, at mid-court or at the net. Her game is multifaceted."

Baritot and Held agree on the part of her game that needs the most work.

"My second serve is not where it needs to be," Held said.

Still, she hopes to be among the top six players on Davidson's women's tennis team next season and earn a spot in the starting lineup.

Competitiveness is what got her started in tennis.

"Jenna Kanterman (a senior at Knoch) and I were best friends when we were little," Held said. "She started playing tennis at the Butler Country Club, so I did the same. We were coached by Whitney Snyder.

"Jenna was my best friend and I wanted to beat her. Then I wanted to beat the next one after her, then the next one — that's how I got involved in the sport."

Davidson competes in the Southern Conference and is coming off a 12-12 season overall, 6-4 in league play. Caroline Price has been head coach there for 28 years, won a national championship in 1984 and has had 21 winning seasons.

Price is 373-242 overall at Davidson. There are seven freshmen and sophomores on the Wildcats' 12-player roster now.

"It's a first-class program and we've sent a couple of players down there before," Baritot said. "Coach Price has known about Elise for a while now."

Davidson awards the Bryan Scholarship, which is based on athletic and academic achievement, character and peer review, annually to an incoming freshman athlete.

Held finished second among 300 applicants for that scholarship.

"That was a pretty intense application process," she said. "To finish runner-up for something like that is an honor in itself."

"Davidson is getting a jewel in this girl," Baritot said. "Her academics are outstanding, she feels comfortable going there and she'll be a great teammate."