BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU women’s tennis head coach Julia S. Sell has been named the ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year, the association announced Tuesday.
Sell led the Lady Tigers to one of the best seasons in school history and set multiple records over the course of the year. The team finished 20-11 on the year and reached the 20-win mark for just the third time in program history.
The third-year head coach has quickly turned around the program since arriving in Baton Rouge. Just this season, Sell led the Lady Tigers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in program history and the semifinal of the SEC Tournament for the third time.
The SEC Tournament win in the quarterfinal over No. 7 Texas A&M was the highest ranked win for LSU since 2001. The Lady Tigers went into the NCAA Tournament ranked 22nd, which was the highest ranking for the team since 2009.
Under Sell, LSU players earned the highest singles ranked win since 2009 and the highest doubles ranked win since 2002. Joana Vale Costa and Noel Scott defeated Auburn’s sixth-ranked doubles team of Pleun Burgmans and Emily Flickinger, 8-5. Vale Costa also defeated No. 7 Sydney Campbell of Vanderbilt in singles.
Vale Costa and junior Skylar Kuykendall were named to the first and second All-SEC teams respectively. Vale Costa finished the 2014-15 season with 31 wins and Kuykendall finished with 30 wins. It marked just the fifth time in school history that two or more teammates have reached the 30-win mark and the first time since the 1984-85 season.
Although the team season is over, Vale Costa travels to Waco, Texas for the NCAA Singles Championships May 20-25.
For more information on the program, follow the Lady Tigers on Twitter @lsuwten and @LSUJuliaSell, on Instagram @LSUWTen and on www.Facebook.com/lsuwten.