Head Coach Dawna Denny is in her sixth season at the helm of the Penn State women's tennis team. Denny is 36-78 in her tenure at Penn State and 101-154 in 11 seasons as a head coach.
During the 2011-12 season, Denny led the Nittany Lions to its best finish during her tenure. Penn State earned a 12-11 record, including four Big Ten victories and five wins over ranked opponents. The Nittany Lions were ranked in the ITA Poll for most of the season, peaking at No. 46. This season marked the first season Penn State entered the poll since Feb. 22, 2008 when it enjoyed a weeklong stay at No. 75. Denny coached Petra Januskova to a first team All-Big Ten honor and Big Ten Athlete of the Week award during the week of Jan. 10. She also led Chelsea Utting to the All-Big Ten second team.
Denny coached the Nittany Lions to exceptional play this past fall. She led Petra Januskova to a 13-2 singles record, including singles crowns at the Cissie Leary Invitational and Western Michigan Super Challenge, as well as a Big Ten Athlete of the Week accolade. Denny also led Januskova and Nina Sertic to a second-place doubles finish at the Cissie Leary Invitational.
Last season, Denny led the Nittany Lions to a 7-16 record and coached Petra Januskova to the first team All-Big Ten team. Januskova became the first Nittany Lion to earn that honor since Maaria Husain in the 2004-05 season. Januskova started the 2010-11 season No. 81 in the Preseason ITA rankings, the first Penn State player to accomplish the feat since 1989. Denny led the Nittany Lions to an individual runner-up finish at the ITA Atlantic Regional (Petra Januskova), as well as the singles and doubles crowns at the WMU Super Challenge.
In the 2009-10 season, Denny coached Petra Januskova to 2010 ITA Atlantic Region Rookie Player of the Year honors. In her first season at Penn State in 2007-08, the Nittany Lions compiled a record of 8-14, including three victories over ranked opponents.
Prior to coming to Happy Valley, Denny was an assistant coach at Baylor University where in addition to Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, she helped the Bears to a berth in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen. The Bears, who peaked at No. 6 in the national rankings, finished the season 13th in the ITA poll. Denny coached two All-America singles players, including Zuzana Zemenova, who was a semifinalist in the 2007 NCAA Singles Championship. At Baylor, Denny was heavily involved in player development, recruiting, travel, scheduling, fundraising and budgeting.
Prior to joining the staff at Baylor, Denny was the head coach of the women's tennis program at her alma mater North Texas for six seasons, accumulating the second-most wins by any women's tennis coach in North Texas history. The Mean Green posted the most wins in 17 years with 15 victories in the 2004 campaign. Denny also helped her alma mater reach the highest regional ranking (13th) in school history that same season. During her tenure with the Mean Green, Denny coached three players to Sun Belt Player of the Week honors and led North Texas to ITA All-Academic Team awards in 2003 and 2004.
In addition to coaching at Baylor and North Texas, Denny served on the Southwest Regional ITA committee (2002-06). She also organized a USTA community service clinic in 2006 and was the tournament director for the Texas Regional High School Tournament from 2001-06.
Denny, who earned her bachelor's degree in biology from North Texas in 2000, was a four-year letter winner for the Mean Green and served as team captain in 1998 and 1999. Denny was an all-conference performer in doubles in 1996 and was an active member of the North Texas Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) during her four years as a member of the women's tennis squad.
In her first two seasons at North Texas, Denny tallied a 12-15 record and then moved into the No. 1 singles spot for her junior and senior years. Throughout her collegiate tennis career, she was the Big West Female Scholar Athlete of the Year and was named to the Raptor All-Eagle Academic Team. Denny earned North Texas' Team Eagle award twice for best work ethic/team spirit.
Denny has served on the ITA Mid-Atlantic committee for the past three years.
