May 24, 2016
After a historic season for Auburn women's tennis that included the first Sweet 16 appearance in school history, Chris Hooshyar has been named ITA Women's National Assistant Coach of the Year, the ITA announced on Tuesday.
"I am extremely humbled to be presented with this award based on the opinion of so many successful coaches," said Hooshyar. "It's great to see that people have taken notice of the work the girls have done and I really am so privileged to be able to work with Lauren (Spencer) and a great group of girls."
In his third season at Auburn, the assistant from Manchester, England, has helped lead the Tigers to many program firsts. Finishing this season 24-8 (9-4 SEC), Auburn set program records for single season wins and single season SEC wins. The Tigers also hosted a NCAA Regional for the first time in program history.
"This is an absolutely tremendous & so well deserved award for Chris and the team and I are so proud of him," said Auburn head coach Lauren Spencer. "Day in and day out we get to see how hard he works for our team. We believe he is the best assistant coach in the country and for him to get recognized on the national level just solidifies everything that our team believes of him on a daily basis. I could not ask for a better partner to do this job. I am so proud of him and I know that this is just the beginning of amazing things to come for him and for the Auburn Women's Tennis Program."
After taking over the team's fitness this season, Hooshyar worked to build one of the most physically fit teams in the SEC. Finishing 25-28 in matches that reached the third set last season, the Tigers went 38-20 in the same scenario this season.
Hooshyar will look to guide Pleun Burgmans, Alizee Michaud and Andie Dikosavljevic in the NCAA Individuals tournament starting Wednesday. Burgmans and Michaud will be a top-eight seed in the doubles tournament. Michaud will also compete in the singles tournament along with fellow sophomore Dikosavljevic.
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