Associate Vice President / Director of Athletics Lenny Kaplan has announced the hiring of Olaya Garrido-Rivas as NJIT's newest Head Women's Tennis Coach in November 2021. Garrido-Rivas joins Highlander Nation after serving as a first-time head coach at Division II Missouri Western State since the Fall of 2019. Garrido-Rivas compiled an overall record of 19-11 in dual matches, and led Missouri Western 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 has sparked a turnaround in the Griffon tennis program that saw MWSU debut at no. 5 in the Oracle/ITA Central Regional Rankings in 2021. She also produced three second-team All-MIAA selections for Missouri Western in 2021 - Karolina Ström (No. 2 Singles), Anya Chavez (No. 4 Singles), Ioanna Lathouri and Anya Chavez (No. 1 Doubles) - as well as MWSU's first UTR/ITA National Player of the Week (Ioanna Lathouri, March 17, 2021) and an MIAA Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week (Isabella MacGibbon, March 22, 2021).
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.
"I would like to thank Lenny Kaplan and Peg Hefferan for giving me the opportunity to lead the NJIT Women's Tennis Program. NJIT is a great academic institution, in a great location, and with an athletic department that is committed to help the student-athletes succeed. I am beyond excited to start working with this group of ladies to get ready for the season and help them achieve their goals on and off the tennis court," Garrido-Rivas said after her appointment.
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.
Garrido-Rivas replaces former head coach Zaki Abdelrahman.
Garrido-Rivas at Missouri Western (19-11 5-3 MIAA)
2021-22 - 1-0
2020-21 - 12-6 (5-3 MIAA) (Fall portion of schedule was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic)
2019-20 - 6-5 (MIAA season canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic)
