Sept. 17, 2014
A Vanderbilt three-time All-American and four-time record setter, Aleke Tsoubanos enters her eighth season on the Commodore women’s tennis staff. Tsoubanos has played a key role in helping to recruit some of the nation’s top players to Vanderbilt, and was named the 2011 ITA Assistant Coach of the year.
“I really view this new title as a nice token of respect,” Vanderbilt head coach Geoff Macdonald said. “It shows how important she is to the program. Aleke is really tough and a great people person. She was really well liked and respected by her teammates when she played here. She led well, and was a natural to come on board and coach. She’s very knowledgeable about the game of tennis and knows how mentally tough people have to be. She works really hard and recruits well with a good eye for talent.”
During her time on the tennis team, Tsoubanos partnered with Kelly Schmandt in 2004 to win 15 consecutive doubles matches, a record the duo still holds. Prior to joining the staff, the Vanderbilt associate head coach played two seasons of World Team Tennis for her hometown team, the St. Louis Aces. While playing for the Aces, she scored doubles wins over such players as Anna Kournikova and Meghann Shaughnessy.
“Aleke had one of the best playing careers in Vanderbilt history as a three time All-American. She is probably one of the best leaders we’ve ever had on the team. After Vanderbilt she played a few years on the pro tour, where she played world team tennis as teammate of Serena Williams.”
The squad just came off of one of its most prolific seasons, as they punched their ticket the Sweet 16, competed in their 20th NCAA Tournament, and at one point were ranked as high as No. 5 by the ITA. But it is not just Tsoubanos’ knowledge of tennis, keen eye for talent, and coaching style that makes her so vital to the tennis program.
“The team knows they can’t pull anything on her, because she was a student-athlete here. They look up to her as a player, as a coach, and now as a new mom who is doing her job really well. The players know that she cares about them and is going to push them to do their best.”