Matias Elevated to Interim Head Coach
7/20/2011 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
July 20, 2011
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Dianne Matias, who has served as the assistant women's tennis coach for the past two seasons, has been elevated to interim head coach, Maryland director of athletics Kevin Anderson announced Wednesday.
Matias replaces Howard Joffe, who recently accepted the women's head coaching position at Texas A&M.
Matias, who is entering her third season at Maryland, will hope to continue the momentum built last season as the Terps reached the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2006.
"I am very excited and grateful for this opportunity," said Matias. "I look forward to continuing the development of this program and build on our recent success. We have a talented group of women who have gained a tremendous amount of experience from last season. This is going to help propel the team forward."
"We look forward to Dianne being able to continue the recent success in our women's tennis program," said Anderson. "We think she is the right person to provide our student-athletes with outstanding coaching and to give them a quality experience in a number of areas."
Prior to coaching, Matias enjoyed a successful collegiate career at the University of Southern California, where she was ranked as high as No. 32 nationally in singles and No. 28 in doubles. In 2005-06, she led the Trojans to a No. 3 national ranking.
At the junior level, Matias, was honored as the USTA's Southern California Player of the Year in 2000, was ranked as high as No. 1 nationally in singles at the U-16 level in 2000 and 2001.
Matias arrived at Maryland after spending one season as an assistant at UC Irvine, where she was primarily responsible for day-to-day operations of the program and assisting with practice.
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