University of Tennessee Athletics
All-Americans Earn Tennis Coaching Honors
May 13, 2015 | Women's Tennis
Three former Tennessee women's tennis All-Americans have earned coaching postseason honors by their conferences and ITA regions.
Melissa Schaub was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year earlier this month as the head coach at the Ohio State University. Alison Ojeda at Baylor and Kata Szekely at DePaul earned assistant coach of the year honors for their respective ITA regions, the college tennis governing body announced Tuesday.
Schaub, in her third season with the Buckeyes, led her team to a standout season, as the squad finished second in the conference during regular season with a program-best 10 conference wins and advanced to the Big Ten Tournament championship game, also earning a second consecutive at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Schaub played for Tennessee from 2002-05, notably winning 81 doubles matches during that time. She was a top-four seed in the NCAA doubles championships with Vilmarie Castellvi in 2003 and earned All-America and All-SEC honors that season.
Ojeda received the Texas region's Assistant Coach of the Year honor with the Baylor Bears, after helping head coach Joey Scrivano lead the Lady Bears to a 27-6 record and Big 12 titles in both the regular season and the conference tournament.
This is the second time Ojeda has received the honor, after also winning it in 2012 with the Bears.
Szekely was named the Midwest Assistant Coach of the Year in her second year at DePaul under head coach Mark Ardizzone. The team went 22-5 and won its second consecutive BIG EAST Tournament Championship, sending the team to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year.
Ojeda (1998-02) earned All-America honors in 2001 and ended her Tennessee playing career with 102 singles and 105 doubles wins. She helped lead the Lady Vols to the NCAA team semifinals as a senior in 2002.
Szekely (2010-13) earned All-America honors in 2012 and 2013, reaching the NCAA doubles semifinals as a junior and senior with two different partners. She also cracked the century mark in doubles wins with 103 to go along with 89 singles wins.
Ojeda and Szekely are eligible to win an ITA national assistant coaching award, which will be announced May 19.
