Rolando Vargas Headed to Radford, Assistant Coach Hires, Matija Pecotic Hangs It Up, Wimbledon Update

Radford Director of Athletics Robert Lineburg announced the hiring of Ricardo Vargas as the new men’s head coach. Vargas comes to Radford after spending the last seven seasons as the men’s and women’s head coach at Auburn University at Montgomery which recently moved up from NAIA to D2. Both of his teams won a lot with the women winning four national titles while the men were runner-ups once. Vargas replaces Mike Anderson who recently retired after 21 years. Below are some quotes from Radford’s release:

“We are very excited to have Rolando Vargas as our new men’s tennis head coach. Rolando has had tremendous success at Auburn Montgomery and we are confident that he will help lead Radford tennis back to a championship level,” Lineburg said. “He has tremendous energy and passion for the game. His track record shows that he gets the most out of his student-athletes.”

“I would like to thank Robert Lineburg, Stephanie Ballein, Cory Durand and everyone on the committee for giving me this opportunity. I would also like to thank Steve Crotz, Jessie Rosa and everyone at Auburn Montgomery for their support,” Vargas noted. “My family has been extremely encouraging and they are excited about the upcoming move to the area. I am thrilled to be joining the Radford family and to be a Highlander.”

Vanderbilt men’s head coach Ian Duvenhage announced the hiring of Ryan Lipman as the new men’s assistant coach. Lipman was a three-time All-American at Vanderbilt and after serving as a volunteer assistant at Vanderbilt two years ago he served as the men’s assistant at Auburn last year under former Vanderbilt All-American Bobby Reynolds. Lipman replaces Jamie Hunt who left to become the associate head coach at his alma mater Georgia.

Auburn men’s head coach Bobby Reynolds announced that Mark Finnegan will replace Ryan Lipman as the new men’s assistant coach. Finnegan had been the men’s head coach at North Florida for the last four seasons but he decided to make the jump from the Atlantic Sun to the SEC despite plenty of success at UNF. 

Duke women’s head coach Jamie Ashworth named Matt Manasse as the Blue Devils new women’s assistant coach. Manasse had spent the past two seasons as the women’s assistant at Oklahoma State and prior to that he was the women’s assistant at Wisconsin. Manasse replaces Marc Spicijaric who stepped down after eight seasons. 

New Liberty men’s head coach Derek Schwandt announced the hiring of Beck Pennington as his new men’s assistant coach. Pennington, who graduated in May, played #1 at Kentucky during the 2014-15 season then after missing the next year with an injury he played at #3 last year. Pennington replaces Rich Benson who was out of a job after Chris Johnson stepped down as Liberty’s head coach after 11 years.

Western Michigan women’s head coach Ryan Tomlinson announced the hiring of Alexis Casati as the Broncos new women’s assistant coach. Casati, who graduated from Illinois in May, played in the top two of the singles lineup for the past four years. Casati replaces Nathan Robinson who spent just one season in Kalamazoo. 

Colette Lewis recapped the ITF junior event in Roehampton for the Tennis Recruiting Network and included in that recap were quotes from the boys champion Axel Geller. Geller, who plans to enroll at Stanford in September, currently has an ITF junior ranking of No. 11 and a UTR of 14.55. Stanford’s top returning player Tom Fawcett has a UTR of 14.24 so needless to say Paul Goldstein will be counting the days until he gets to see the Argentinian on campus.

Matija Pecotic, who was a three-time Ivy League Player of the Year at Princeton, announced that he will retire from pro tennis and will pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School. Pecotic achieved a career-high ranking of 206 in late 2015 before injuries sidelined him for most of 2016. Pecotic talks about the ins and outs of his tennis career along with his decision to walk away in a release that Princeton put out. 

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John Peers (Baylor) is the only former college player left in the men’s doubles draw at Wimbledon after he and Henri Kontinen defeated the French Open doubles champs Michael Venus and Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-1. Peers and Kontinen fought off a match point in the fourth set tiebreak at 6-7 and then won the next two points after that to force a fifth set.