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Longbotham Named SMU Women's Tennis Coach

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Longbotham Named SMU Women's Tennis Coach

Postby MUSTANGTENNIS » Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:47 pm

WAY TO GO COACH CAN'T WAIT FOR THE SPRING! GOOD LUCK!

Longbotham Named Head Women's Tennis Coach

June 22, 2007


DALLAS (SMU) - Lauren Longbotham has been named head women's tennis coach at SMU, Director of Athletics Steve Orsini announced today. Longbotham, who served as interim head coach during the 2006-07 season, has spent the last four seasons on the Hilltop and has played a big part in the resurgence of women's tennis at SMU.


"I am extremely excited to be able to continue my work with the SMU women's tennis team and would like to thank Steve Orsini and the SMU Athletic Department for all of their support throughout my year as interim head coach," said Longbotham. "We have a very talented group of student-athletes who are dedicated and hungry to win the Conference USA Championship, achieve a top-25 national ranking and compete for a national championship. It is a very exciting time to be on the Hilltop and I am thrilled to be apart of the Mustang family"

In her season as interim head coach, the Mustangs finished 19-5 and posted their highest winning percentage since 1977. On the court, SMU had three singles players and one doubles squad named All-C-USA. The team excelled in the classroom as well, as they had four Academic Medal Winners, six Commissioner's Honor Roll Winners, one member of the C-USA All-Academic Team and one Conference USA Scholar-Athlete. SMU finished the season ranked 57th in the nation and the doubles tandem of Natalia Bubien and Claire Rietsch were rated 58th. The national doubles ranking was the highest for an SMU pair since 1997, when Patricia Zerdan and Renee Greyvensteyn were ranked 35th. Regionally, SMU was sixth as a team and Bubien and Rietsch were ninth.

"Lauren has played a big part in our improvement in women's tennis over the past few years," said Orsini. "She has shown a tremendous ability to recruit top student-athletes and to put together a challenging schedule. As interim head coach last season, we continued to have success and I'm confident that she will guide our program to that top-25 status that we want all our programs to achieve."

As an assistant coach in 2005-06, she helped guide the Mustangs to the Conference USA championship finals and a top-40 team ranking. The Mustangs posted a 19-6 overall record and saw four players named to the All-Conference team. The 2004-05 Mustang squad finished the season with a 16-10 record and made the semifinals of the WAC Championships, posting a 12-match win streak at the end of the season - the longest winning streak since 2000-01 season.

In her inaugural season with the Mustangs in '03-`04, Longbotham helped lead the team to its first NCAA Tournament bid since 1996 and the tournament's round of 32 for the first time since 1988. The squad also achieved its highest ranking since 1989, finishing the season at No. 43 in the nation. The team played in the championship match at the WAC Tournament and ended the season with an overall record of 18-11.

In her time at SMU, Longbotham has coached 12 all-conference players and three players and a doubles tandem that have been nationally-ranked.

Longbotham has also served as a USPTA-certified teaching professional at Brookhaven Tennis Academy in Dallas where she worked with nationally-ranked junior players and junior traveling teams during the summer.

Before arriving to Dallas and SMU, Longbotham spent the fall of 2003 as a volunteer assistant coach for her alma mater, Louisiana Tech. She lettered four years as a member of the Lady Techster tennis team from 1999-2003, serving as team captain for two years. She was named the team's Singles Player of the Year in 2000, recording the best singles record on the team. A Dean's List member at Louisiana Tech, Longbotham was also named to the conference All-Academic Team each of her five years in Ruston, La.

A native of Groesbeck, Texas, Longbotham was a three-time state doubles champion from 1997 to 1999 and was named Groesbeck High Athlete of the Year in 1999.

Longbotham received her bachelor of science in education from Louisiana Tech in 2003 and is currently working on her masters of education degree at SMU. She is engaged to Tod Meisner, Assistant Director of Media Relations for Conference USA and will be married in early July.

Longbotham replaces Rob Howarth, who left the program prior to last season.
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Postby Corso » Tue Jun 26, 2007 1:25 pm

Congratulations, Coach.
Very well deserved!
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Postby Peruna88 » Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:34 pm

Yeah, Lauren!!! Very proud of you!!

8)
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Postby smupony94 » Thu Jun 28, 2007 11:48 pm

She better win
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