HEAD COACH DAWNA DENNY
Dawna
DENNY Sixth Season at Penn State 36-78 2008 Palmer Award Winner North Texas, 2000
Head coach Dawna Denny is in her sixth season guiding the Penn State women’s tennis team. Denny is 36-78 in her tenure at Penn State and 101-154 in ten seasons as a head coach. Denny coached the Nittany Lions to exceptional play this past fall. She coached Petra Januskova and Chelsea Utting to the main draws of the ITA All-American Championships in California. Januskova and Utting teamed to defeat the No. 35 ranked duo in the nation, Millie Nichols and Olivia Smith of TCU, while Januskova also knocked out No. 20 Aeriel Ellis of Texas in singles competition. She also coached Januskova to her victory in the ITA Atlantic Regional which gave her automatic entry into the National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship in New York. Last season, Denny led the Nittany Lions to a 12-11 record where the finished with a No. 2 ranking in the region. She coached Petra Januskova to the first team All-Big Ten for the second straight year as well as Chelsea Utting to the second team All-Big Ten in her first season as a Nittany Lion. The Lions finished ranked No. 51 in the national polls and Januskova finished with a No. 76 singles ranking. In the 2010-2011 season, under Denny, Januskova became the first Nittany Lion to make first team All-Big Ten since Maaria Husain in the 2004-05 season. Januskova started the 2010-11 season No. 81 in the Preseason ITA rankings, the first Penn State player to accomplish the feat since 1989. Denny led the Nittany Lions to an individual runner-up finish at the ITA Atlantic Regional (Petra Januskova), as well as the singles and doubles crowns at the WMU Super Challenge. Prior to coming to Happy Valley, Denny was an assistant coach at Baylor University where in addition to Big 12 regularseason and tournament titles, she helped the Bears to a berth in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen. The Bears, who peaked at No. 6 in the national rankings, finished the season 13th in the ITA poll. Denny coached two All-America singles players, including Zuzana Zemenova, who was a semifinalist in the 2007 NCAA Singles Championship. At Baylor, Denny was heavily involved in player development, recruiting, travel, scheduling, fundraising and budgeting. Prior to joining the staff at Baylor, Denny was the head coach of the women’s tennis program at her alma mater North Texas for six seasons, accumulating the second-most wins by any women’s 4
PENN STATE 2012-13 • WOMEN’S TENNIS
tennis coach in North Texas history. The Mean Green posted the most wins in 17 years with 15 victories in the 2004 campaign. Denny also helped her alma mater reach the highest regional ranking (13th) in school history that same season. During her tenure with the Mean Green, Denny coached three players to Sun Belt Player of the Week honors and led North Texas to ITA AllAcademic Team awards in 2003 and 2004. In addition to coaching at Baylor and North Texas, Denny served on the Southwest Regional ITA committee (2002-06). She also organized a USTA community service clinic in 2006 and was the tournament director for the Texas Regional High School Tournament from 2001-06. Denny, who earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from North Texas in 2000, was a four-year letter winner for the Mean Green and served as team captain in 1998 and 1999. Denny was an all-conference performer in doubles in 1996 and was an active member of the North Texas Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) during her four years as a member of the women’s tennis squad. In her first two seasons at North Texas, Denny tallied a 12-15 record and then moved into the No. 1 singles spot for her junior and senior years. Throughout her collegiate tennis career, she was the Big West Female Scholar Athlete of the Year and was named to the Raptor All-Eagle Academic Team. Denny earned North Texas’ Team Eagle award twice for best work ethic/team spirit. Denny has served on the ITA Mid-Atlantic committee for the past three years.
ASSISTANT COACH MIKE FENWICK
Michael
FENWICK Third Season at Penn State
Western Illinois, 2006
Fenwick is in his third season as an assistant coach. Fenwick came to Happy Valley after spending the 2009-10 season as a volunteer assistant coach with the Baylor men’s tennis team. Last year he helped coach the Nittany Lions to a 12-11 record including four wins against ranked opponents. As a volunteer assistant coach, Fenwick helped the Baylor Bears to a No. 7 ranking in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll with a 24-7 record. The Bears also landed two singles players and three doubles teams in the national rankings. Additionally, Fenwick taught tennis classes for the health, human performance and recreation department at Baylor and served as an instructor at the Waco Regional Tennis Center.
at Western Illinois. He helped guide the Leathernecks to the Summit League regular-season title in 2008, the program’s first regular-season conference title. Fenwick also had a hand in producing a Mid-Con Men’s Newcomer of the Year, a Mid-Con Men’s Player of the Year and 10 men’s and women’s all-conference selections while in Macomb. The WIU men also claimed the 2006 Mid-Con Tournament title and earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid in 2006. Fenwick graduated from Western Illinois University in 2006 with a degree in business management. He also earned his master’s degree from WIU in recreation, park and tourism administration in 2009. Fenwick played tennis at Quincy University in 2004-05 after spending time at Sauk Valley Community College (2002-03) and Illinois Valley Community College (2003-04). Fenwick’s brother, Chad, is the director of tennis/head men’s and women’s coach for Ashford University. Fenwick was a teaching tennis professional in his native Dixon, Ill. He has also worked summer tennis camps run by the Naval Academy and Pepperdine University.
Prior to his tenure at Baylor, Fenwick spent four years as an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s programs
PENN STATE’S ALL-TIME COACHING RECORDS
Coach Years Record Ann Valentine 1965 2-2 Pat Semi 1966-68 11-3 Joan Nessler 1969-77 48-19 Candy Royer 1977-81 44-16 Kim Muller 1981-82 8-9 Jan Bortner 1982-90 125-45 Sue Whiteside 1990-99 73-104 Buffy Baker 1999-07 60-91 Dawna Denny 2007-pres. 36-78
GoPSUsports.com • PENN STATE 2012–13
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