FLORENCE, Ala. -- University of North Alabama Director of Athletics Dr. Josh Looney has announced the hiring of fomer TCU standout and current NJIT head women's tennis coach Olaya Garrido-Rivas as the Director of Tennis at UNA for the Lion men's and women's teams.
 
Garrido-Rivas has served as head women's tennis coach at NJIT since November 2021 and has additional head coaching experience at Division II Missouri Western State from 2019-21.
 
In her one season at NJIT, Garrido-Rivas led the Highlanders to a remarkable season that ended with a loss in the Southland Conference Tournament Championship match and included an upset of conference top seed Northwestern State in the semifinals. It was NJIT's first season with 12 or more wins since 2018-19, four Highlanders were named to the All-Southland Conference team, the school's tennis program got its first-ever win over a Power Five school with a 5-2 win over Rutgers, the team had three separate three-match winning streaks and posted four different 7-0 shutouts during the season.
 
"This will be the second opportunity I've had to work alongside Olaya as she revives and develops a tennis program," said Looney, who selected Garrido-Rivas as a first-time head coach at Missouri Western in 2019. "She is the most competitive person I've been around, in all aspects of her life, and that competitive energy becomes a very visible trait in the programs she leads. Simply put, she is a winner, and I'm thrilled to support her vision for leading this exciting and new Division I era for UNA Tennis."
 
"First, I would like to thank Dr. Looney, President (Ken) Kitts and the search committee for the opportunity to become the Director of Tennis at UNA," Garrido-Rivas said. "I am excited to be part of an ambitious athletic department that looks to succeed on the court, the classroom, and the community. From the moment that we stepped foot in the Shoals, it just felt like home. I can't wait to get started and put UNA on the top of the ASUN Conference."
 
Garrido-Rivas turned around the tennis program at Missouri Western, leading the Griffons to a first-round win in the MIAA Tournament over Northeastern State in 2021. The win marked the first in postseason play since 2012 and the first opening round win since 2011. Garrido-Rivas sparked a revival that saw MWSU debut at no. 5 in the Oracle/ITA Central Regional Rankings in 2021. She also produced three All-MIAA selections for Missouri Western in 2021, as well as MWSU's first UTR/ITA National Player of the Week and an MIAA Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week. She departed the Missouri Western program to accept her first Division I head coaching opportunity and left the Griffons with their highest preseason ranking in 25 years.
 
Off the court, Garrido-Rivas' program was honored with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA)'s Central Region Community Service Award for logging over 100 hours of service as a team. The women's tennis team also carried a 3.7 GPA - the highest in the athletic department.
 
Prior to MWSU, Garrido-Rivas  spent two seasons as an assistant women's tennis coach at Middle Tennessee State (2017-19). At Middle Tennessee, Garrido-Rivas helped the team jump 121 spots in the ITA rankings during her first season.
 
The native of Gijon, Asturias, Spain was a second team All-Big 12 selection as a women's tennis student-athlete at Texas Christian University in 2017 and was named the Big 12 Women's Tennis Newcomer of the Year in 2016 after transferring to TCU from the University of South Florida. She graduated from TCU in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies with a minor in General Business. Garrido-Rivas earned her Master's degree in Leisure and Sport Management from Middle Tennessee in 2019 and worked as an instructor with the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy during her graduate studies.
 
Garrido-Rivas was named second team All-Big 12 doubles as a senior after posting a 17-9 overall record along with an 18-9 mark in singles play at TCU. She was also a second team Academic All-Big 12 selection that season. As a junior at TCU she was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, posting more than 20 wins across doubles and singles action. In two seasons at USF, Garrido-Rivas posted 36 wins across singles and doubles and was named to the American Athletic All-Conference team as a freshman.