BATON ROUGE — LSU women’s tennis head coach Tony Minnis was named the NCAA Southwest Region Coach of the Year and junior Ana Paula Mores received the region’s Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award, the NCAA announced Thursday.
With this honor, Minnis became one of eight finalists for the National Coach of the Year honor to be voted upon at the NCAA Championships in Gainesville, Fla., on May 30.
This marks Minnis’ third Coach of the Year honor in five seasons, as he was named the NCAA Southwest Region Coach of the Year in 1995 and the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year in 1997.
“This is a very big honor to receive such an award,” Minnis said. “I think my peers recognized that we lost three seniors prior to this season, and we have come back to be seeded 24th in the NCAA Tournament.”
Minnis has led the Lady Tigers to the NCAA postseason for the past four seasons, and LSU is currently ranked 27th in the latest ITA rankings as it heads to Malibu, Calif., to face Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on May 14.
LSU has earned a 12-10 overall record this season, including a pair of late-season upsets of Top-20 opponents Tennessee and Arkansas.
“This is a tribute to our team which, when everybody counted them out, came together at the end of the season and moved back into the Top 25,” Minnis said.
Mores became the second Lady Tiger in as many seasons to earn the Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award in the Southwest Region. In 1998, LSU senior Jamie Vallotton receive this honor.
Mores is ranked 92nd in the nation by the ITA and has led the Lady Tigers in victories this season with 24. She also pairs with freshman Bruna Colosio on the nation’s 39th-ranked doubles team.