Jim & Elyse Lavender announced as new men's and women's tennis coaches
MARS HILL, N.C. – Jim Lavender has been named head coach of the men's and women's tennis programs while daughter, Elyse, has been named the assistant coach, as announced by Director of Athletics Rick Baker.
"Jim Lavender had one of the most successful seasons as the former head coach back in 2008-09," Baker stated. "He left the program after winning the SAC Tennis Tournament in 2009 so he could end up training his daughter Elyse, who went on to play professionally.
Lavender has amassed over 30 years of coaching experience between the professional, collegiate, and junior levels. He began coaching collegiately in 1995, assisting at Barton, where over five years, the program developed four All-Americans, 20 Academic All-Americans, and won four conference championships.
In 1998, Lavender was recruited by world renown coach, Craig O'Shannessy, to direct a tennis academy in Wodonga, Australia, where he coached a top 100 ranked player in Vanessa Webb.
When he returned to the States in 2000, Lavender opened his first company, Competitive Edge L.L.C. The company ran for 17 years where he led development of players throughout North America.
Lavender served as head coach at Mars Hill in 2008-09, leading the men's program to their first South Atlantic Conference Championship in program history and a top 40 ranking in the country. Most recently, Lavender served as a volunteer assistant coach at LSU, where his daughter, Elyse, led the team to being ranked as high as 12th in the country.
"We would love to personally thank AD Baker and his team for the opportunity to join the Mars Hill family and be a part of the student-athletes' journeys," Jim and Elyse Lavender said.
Lavender holds certifications as a WTA registered coach, United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Elite Pro, European Professional Tennis Coach Association (RPT) Level 1 Coach, National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certified Trainer, and American Sports & Fitness Association (ASFA) Golf Functional Specialist.
Elyse was a top 10 recruit in 2017, playing as No. 1 singles and doubles for LSU. She turned pro a year later, picking up six wins over top 500 WTA ranked players, appearing in three quarterfinals in professional tournaments. A career highlight was winning the U.S. Open National Qualifier in 2016.
Baker added, "It will be a great addition that Elyse will be the assistant coach for Mars Hill. Her experience as a high-level player as well as what she has learned as a tennis instructor will benefit our programs greatly. We are excited of the potential success our teams will have under the direction of the Lavenders."
She returned to collegiate play in 2019, playing for Brenau University. During that season, she won the NAIA National Singles Championship. While playing at the NAIA level, she was recognized as a two-time All-American in both singles and doubles. She was also ranked the No. 1 player in NAIA during her career.
Closing out her collegiate career, she clinched the match as the No. 1 seed for Keiser University to win the 2023 National Indoor Championships at Keiser University.
Elyse, during her coaching career, has worked at Coach Strategic Tennis LLC since 2019, developing top junior and collegiate level players, while being responsible for content creation, marketing, event organization, and designing developmental players for players.
"We are excited and deeply honored to accept this opportunity to lead and develop the tennis program into a longstanding nationally recognized program," Lavender continued. "We are committed to fostering and developing a program that will allow athletes to develop into people who will make this world a better place for others."
