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Stephanie Nickitas Named Women?s Tennis Assistant Coach At Duke
DURHAM, N.C.? Stephanie Nickitas has been named assistant women’s tennis coach at Duke University announced on Monday by Blue Devil head coach Jamie Ashworth. Nickitas, a 1999 University of Florida graduate, arrives at Duke after spending three seasons as assistant coach at Harvard.
“I am very excited about joining the Duke women’s tennis program,” said Nickitas. “Duke has such a great combination of both athletics and academics and I am happy to become a part of such a prestigious university. I am also excited about working with Jamie as I have known him since I played against the Blue Devils at Florida. [Ashworth] has done great things with the program and I am excited about helping return Duke tennis to one of the nation’s elite.”
In three years at Harvard, Nickitas helped the Crimson to three Ivy League crowns, its highest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national ranking of No. 11 on two different occasions, two NCAA Final 16 appearances and three straight undefeated regular seasons in league play. Last season, Nickitas was named the ITA East Region Assistant Coach of the Year.
A six-time All-America at the University of Florida, Nickitas was the 1996 and 1997 NCAA Doubles champion and a 1998 NCAA Doubles finalist during her time as a Gator. Nickitas was a seven-time Southeastern Conference (SEC) champion, four-time first team All-SEC selection and a member of two USTA National Teams. She was the winner of four collegiate Grand Slam titles and her named is etched in the Gator record books.
At Florida, Nickitas is second in doubles win percentage (128-15, 89.5%), fifth in singles win percentage (128-22, 85.3%), second in single-season doubles wins (41 in 1996) and eighth all-time in singles victories (127).
“Stephanie will be a great addition to our program,” said Ashworth. “She arrives from Harvard where she understands the pressures of trying to compete at high levels of both athletics and academics. She has the academic background and as a playing background, she won the NCAA doubles title twice and advanced to the final one other time. Doubles play is an area where this past year we really struggled. Hopefully with her insights in that area we can make a big jump in our doubles play.”
Nickitas was instrumental in helping Florida post an impressive 120-3 record during her playing tenure, including NCAA Championships in 1996 and 1998, NCAA runner-up finishes in 1997 and 1999, National Team Indoor titles in 1996, ?97 and ?99, four SEC regular season titles and SEC Tournament crowns in 1996, ?97 and ?98.
“Overall, we are glad to have Stephanie in terms of recruiting,” said Ashworth. “She has handled the daily in and outs of the Harvard program and they are coming off one of their best finishes in a long time. I think a lot of that had to do with Stephanie and we feel very fortunate to have her come in and try to do the same things at Duke.”
A native of Tampa, Fla., Nickitas graduated in 1999 with a B.S. in business administration. Nickitas received GTE Academic All-America honors in 1998, the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and NCAA Top Eight Award in 1999 and was named to the SEC Academic Honor roll from 1995-99.
TRANSACTION: Stephanie Nickitas named assistant women’s tennis coach at Duke University.
