Tina Samara Head Coach Third Season players to attain top 20 regional rankings in the Southern Region. According to the 2009-10 grade report, Samara’s team recorded the highest grade point average of all sport programs at Louisiana-Lafayette.
At West Virginia (2010-Present) Tina Samara enters her third season as the West Virginia University women’s tennis head coach after being appointed to lead the program in September 2010. Samara leads WVU into what may be its biggest transition in program history, as it moves into one of the nation’s top tennis conferences – the Big 12. In doing so, the third-year coach will send a young, talented team that was overhauled after a 4-16 season in 2011-12. In her first year at WVU, the Mountaineers finished the season with an 8-14 overall record and an appearance at the Big East Women’s Tennis Tournament. The season was highlighted by victories over Pitt, Connecticut and Duquesne. In total, three WVU players finished the season with at least 15 victories.
At Colorado (2007-08) Samara spent two seasons (2007-08) as the assistant women’s tennis coach at Colorado. In her first season at CU, the team finished 16-8 overall, the best record since 1999, and went 9-2 in the Big 12 for a share of third place. The Buffaloes closed out the season nationally ranked No. 37, the highest ranking in eight years.
Collegiate and Professional Success With more than 10 years of experience as a tennis pro, Samara competed on the USTA/ WTA/LTA Pro tour and played three-straight seasons representing Norway at the Federation Cup (1996-98). As a player at Georgia, Samara earned All-America honors in 1994 and 1995, and partnered up for a victory in the deciding match of the Bulldogs’ first-ever NCAA title in 1994. The pair finished the year ranked No. 1 in NCAA doubles in 1995 and went on to win the National Clay Court Doubles title in 1996. The team won the National Indoor title in 1994 and 1995. Samara was later listed in Sports Illustrated “Faces in the Crowd.” She was crowned the 1993 Collegiate Grasscourt singles champion, was a member of Georgia’s 1994 SEC title team and was a twotime national team indoor champion.
Personal Samara graduated from Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer sciences. A native of Oyster Bay, N.Y., Samara is married to Brian Sullivan.
At Louisiana-Lafayette (2008-10)
WVU Career Coaches’ Records
Samara joined the Mountaineer tennis program after spending the 2009 and 2010 seasons as the head coach at LouisianaLafayette, where she guided the team to the semifinal round of the 2010 Sun Belt Conference Tournament. In her first recruiting class for the Ragin’ Cajuns, Samara signed LouisianaLafayette’s No. 1 singles player, one of two
Coach
Seasons Records Pct.
Martha Thorn
1973-00
315-227-1
.580
Alicia Von Lossberg
2000-01
7-13
.350
Dan Silverstein
2001-06
54-53
.505
Marc Walters
2006-10
56-44
.560
Tina Samara
2010-12
12-30
.286
Total
24 | West Virginia University
442-370-1 .544