Black History Month - Today's Stars: Collegiate Players/Coaches

Today's Stars: Collegiate Players/Coaches

Players

Jason Bradshaw

Jason Bradshaw© Saddleback College

Saddleback College
Sophomore * Laguna Niguel, Calif.

• As a freshman last season, posted a 4-7 singles record at No. 3 singles and was 5-4 at No. 4 singles
• Had four different doubles partners last season, finishing the year at 9-10
• Is majoring in computer engineering
• Dean's List as a freshman

Torrie Browning

Torrie Browning© Wichita State University

• Named to the 2007 Women's Tennis All-Conference Team at No. 6 Singles
• Defeated Indiana State's Marie Caujolle, 6-4, 6-2, to win the MVC No. 5 Singles Championship
• Was No. 1 player in the USTA Southwest Section Girls' 16s in 2004
• Made Arizona's top-100 athletes for the year 2004
• Won two consecutive A2 4A Arizona State High school championships in 2004 and 2005
• Was named Tucson Citizen Female Tennis Player of the year in 2004 and 2005
• Was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame
  

Whitney McCray

Whitney McCray© Georgia Tech

• Part of Georgia Tech’s first-ever NCAA Championship team
• 2007 ITA All-American (doubles)
• Ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation in doubles during the season before concluding the year ranked No. 6
• Also earned a No. 50 singles ranking during the year and finished the season at No. 94 in the polls
• Posted a 27-14 doubles record, while going 13-5 in singles

Megan Moulton-Levy

Megan Moulton-Levy© College of William & Mary

• Earned ITA All-America honors in both singles and doubles in 2007, giving her four for her career, which ranks second in Tribe history
• Finished as the NCAA runner up in doubles with Katarina Zoricic
• Won the 2007 ITA National Indoor Doubles Championship
• Named the National ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award winner for the second straight season, becoming the first female player to achieve the honor
• Named the CAA Player of the Year for the third straight season, while garnering first-team all-league laurels in both singles and doubles
• Finished the 2007 season with a 45-5 doubles record and a 30-7 singles mark
• Her doubles wins total and doubles winning percentage (.900) rank second in school history
• VaSID State Player of the Year recipient for the second straight season
• A First-Team VaSID All-State honoree in singles and doubles
• Named the ITA East Region Senior Player of the Year and the ITA East Region Arthur Ashe Award winner.

Ellah Nze

Ellah Nze© Duke University

• Compiled a singles record of 10-3 in fall competition, a mark which included an eight-match win streak
• Reached the finals of the ITA Southeast Region Championships
• Became the first freshman (along with Baylor’s Taylor Ormond, also at National Indoors) since 2005 to reach the semifinals at the National Indoors
• Held a career high WTA ranking of 478

Robbye Poole

Robbye Poole© University of Mississippi

• 2007 All-American
• 2007 All-SEC
• 2007 UMAA Honor Roll
• Began the fall ranked No. 18 in the nation
• Went 8-4 in singles
• Semifinalist at the Baylor Invitational
• Quarterfinalist at the Southeast Regional
• Entered the spring ranked No. 11 in the Southeast Region.
• Ended the 2007 season ranked No. 33 in the nation in singles
• Reached the round of 16 in his first NCAA Singles Championship appearance
• Went 4-1 in the NCAA Championships in helping the Rebels reach the "Sweet Sixteen"
• Finished 8-2 in the SEC
• Posted a team-leading 35-11 overall record
• Helped the Rebels capture their sixth consecutive SEC West title and reach the SEC Tournament final for the second year in a row and third time in four years

Blake Strode

Blake Strode© University of Arkansas

• No. 76 in the latest ITA singles rankings
• No. 20 in the 2007-08 ITA preseason singles rankings
• No. 12 in the 2007-08 ITA preseason doubles rankings (with Colin Mascall)
• Earned his 60th career singles win on Jan. 19
• As a sophomore, was named first-team All-SEC after a 27-11 season
• As a freshman, was named second-team All-SEC after a 27-7 season
• Recipient of the prestigious Bodenhamer Fellowship and enrolled in the Honors College as a double major in international economics and Spanish

Bradwin Williams

Bradwin Williams© University of Arkansas

• As of Feb. 3, he is second on the Razorback team with 10 singles wins
• Holds a 2-1 dual-match record this season
• Won five doubles matches last season as a freshman
• A communications major, enrolled in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
  

Coaches

Traci Green

Traci Green© Harvard University

• Comes to Harvard after three years as head coach at Temple, where she orchestrated a complete turnaround of a program that went 4-15 prior to her arrival. Her second season saw the Owls register their first winning record since the 1999-2000 campaign, while her 2006-07 team went 16-4 overall, 8-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference and reached the championship match of the A-10 tournament.
• Coached a Temple team that was ranked as high as No. 85 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association ratings in 2007, marking the first time that the Owls had achieved a national rank.
• Her team defeated three nationally ranked opponents and saw five players achieve all-conference status. Green’s head-coaching record stands at 34-27.
• Was a member of the Gators’ 1998 NCAA championship team and was ranked as high as No. 5 nationally in doubles and No. 12 in singles during the 1998-99 season.
• Her teams won two ITA National Indoor Championships (1997, 1999), and Green ranks among Florida’s career leaders in singles and doubles wins.
• She was a three-time, first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection in both singles and doubles.

J. Webb Horton

J. Webb Horton© FGCU

• Has coached both FGCU squads into the top 20 in the Division II rankings.
• Is now in his sixth year at FGCU and has guided the FGCU men to a 77-27 dual match record during his tenure, including two NCAA tournament berths and top-10 national rankings in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
• FGCU advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2005, its first season for NCAA post-season eligibility, after posting a 19-5 record for the most wins in school history.
• Was selected as the national winner of the USTA/ITA Community Service Award in 2004. The award honored Horton for his significant contributions to developing community-based tennis programs in Southwest Florida.

Jennifer Magley

Jennifer Magley© Wichita State University

• Is in her first season as associate women’s head coach for Wichita State tennis.
• Was a 2005 graduate of the University of Florida
  * No. 1 player in the ITA’s Div. 1 singles ranking in the fall of 2005.
• Holds the second-winningest doubles record at the University of Florida with partner Zerene Reyes with an 86-21 overall record. The duo peaked at No. 2 in the NCAA Div. 1 Doubles ratings.
  * Was a four-time All-American and a four-time Academic All-American for the Gators.
• Was honored by ESPN The Magazine by being named to the publication’s Academic All-American Women’s At-Large Team... Was also an Arthur Ashe Scholar.

Tony Minnis

Tony Minnis© Louisiana State University

• Is in his 17th year as coach at Louisiana State University.
• Is LSU’s all-time winningest women’s tennis coach.
• Has been named ITA Southwest Region Coach of the Year four times (1995, 1999, 2004 and 2007), was the SEC Coach of the Year in 1997 and Louisiana Coach of the Year on three occasions (1995, 1997 and 1999).
• His coaching record was 224-172 entering the 2008 season.
• The Lady Tigers have made the NCAA Tournament 12 of 16 years under his tutelage.

Mark Riley

Mark Riley© Kalamazoo College

• Riley takes the helm at Kalamazoo, a program that has won 69 consecutive MIAA championships (Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Associations) and seven NCAA III championships.
• Kalamazoo has a record of 426-2 in the MIAA from 1935-2007.
• Spent seven years at the University of Pennsylvania as the head men’s tennis coach, where he led the Quakers to Ivy League championships in 2006 and 2007, as well as ECAC titles in 2005 and 2006.
• At Pennsylvania, Riley coached eight First-Team All-Ivy selections, two Ivy League Rookies of the Year and an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Rookie of the Year.
• In 2006, Riley was named Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Region Coach of the Year, USTA Middle States Tennis Association Section Coach of the Year, and Philadelphia Area Tennis District Collegiate Coach of the Year.
• Prior to arriving at Penn, Riley served as head coach at the University of Kansas for four seasons (1997-2000). He led the Jayhawks to a school-best No. 9 national ranking, was a Big 12 runner-up and a three-time NCAA Region V Tournament qualifier.
• Was a Division III All-American and two-time captain at Kalamazoo College, where he played tennis for two years under coach George Acker. He played two singles and one doubles and earned Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Most Valuable Player honors his senior season.
• In NCAA Division III singles competition, Riley was ranked No. 16 in 1981 and No. 10 in 1982. He was seeded fifth in the 1981 doubles and seventh in 1982.
• From 1984-88, Riley was a world-ranked tennis player by the ATP. In 1985, he was the American Tennis Association doubles champion.

Dr. Robert Screen

Dr. Robert Screen© Hampton University

• Is in his 35th season at the helm of the Hampton University Men’s and Women’s Tennis program.
• Is the winningest coach all-time among NCAA Division I coaches for men’s and women’s tennis... Not only does Dr. Screen hold this impressive position amongst collegiate coaches, but he is also the most successful African-American tennis coach in the history of the game.
• Before moving up to the Division I level of competition during the 1995-96 season, the Pirates dominated the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) by winning 22 consecutive conference titles and two NCAA Division II National Championships (1976 and 1988), becoming the only Historically Black College/University (HBCU) to win a national tennis title.
• The Pirates finished as the No. 2 team in the country six times from 1985-94, including their last season as a member of the NCAA Division II. Setting the bar of excellence throughout the nation, the Pirates left Division II play competing in the National Tournament Championship match in their final three seasons.
• Since joining the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), the Pirates have won nine conference titles (six men and three women).
• In 1999, Dr. Screen guided the Pirates to their first NCAA Division I National Tournament before falling in the first round to the University of Alabama.
• In 1996, Hampton University added women’s tennis to its slate, providing an additional opportunity for Dr. Screen to display his merit as a championship coach, guiding the Lady Pirates to the MEAC crown that very same year. He went on to add two more titles in 1998 and 2002.
• In his years of service to the university, Dr. Screen has accumulated 34 conference championships (men and women).

Bryan Shelton

Bryan Shelton© Georgia Tech

• Named 2007 USTA/ITA National Coach of the Year and 2007 ACC Coach of the Year.
• 2007 National Champions.
• 2007 ITA National Indoor Team Champions.
• 2005, 2006, 2007 ACC Champions.
• 2005, 2006, 2007 ACC regular season champions.
• Has won a school-record 139 matches.
• No. 1 final national ranking in 2007.
• School-record 29 wins in 2007.
• Now in his ninth year as the head coach of the Georgia Tech women's tennis program, Shelton is the only coach in the history of Georgia Tech to guide a team to an NCAA National Championship.
• Helped his team snap the three-time defending national champion Stanford Cardinal's NCAA-record 89-match winning streak with a thrilling 4-3 victory in the semifinals, before shutting down Notre Dame, 4-2, in the championship match to capture the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor title in 2007.
• Embarked upon a 21-match winning streak to conclude the season, culminating with the NCAA Championship in May.
• His .692 winning percentage at Georgia Tech is the highest of any Yellow Jacket head tennis coach -- men's or women's. As a matter of fact, his .692 winning percentage is the sixth-highest among ALL coaches in Georgia Tech history.

* Information provided by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association