Ryan Ray is entering his third season as the Eastern Michigan University head women’s tennis coach. Ray (6-4-75) most recently was head coach of the men’s tennis program at Indiana State University, leading them to an undefeated regular season conference championship and a second place finish in the conference tournament while earning Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year in 2005.

In 2008, the Eagles had their best conference finish under Ray, finishing with an overall record of 9-13 and a 5-3 Mid-American Conference mark, to finish tied for third in the regular season. Vanessa Frankowski posted an overall record of 24-12 in 2008, including a 15-6 dual match and 8-1 MAC mark (regular and post season). She ended the year on a seven match win streak, including nine of the last 10. She totaled 33 wins (singles and doubles) in 2007-08. She recorded victories as the eagles defeated No. 56 Bowling Green and ending their 11-match season-opening win streak. She was a three time MAC Player of the week in 2008 (five total career honors) for the periods ending Feb. 19, March 18 and April 8. She also was named a MAC Scholar-Athlete of the Week in 2007. She was also named a CoSIDA second-team All-District selection.

Additionally, six out of the seven athletes on the 2007-08 roster were named ITA Scholar-Athletes. The team was also named All-Academic.

The 2007 season saw the Eagles finish with an overall record of 12-11 and 4-4 Mid-American Conference tournament record. Frankowski finished with a 29-7 record (7-1 MAC) and was named the 2007 MAC Player of the Year, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.

Ray will look to bring his recruiting talents to EMU, which he showed, impressively at Indiana State, by starting with a roster of two players and producing a team consisting of four players ranked in the top 200 in the world in junior play and a junior college All-American. Two of those players had multiple years of Davis Cup experience in their native countries. Ray also coached two doubles teams to national rankings as high as No. 43 and No. 54 during the 2005 season.

During the 2002 and 2003 seasons Ray was the assistant men’s and women’s tennis coach at Saint Louis University. Ray helped the Saint Louis women’s team to its best Conference USA tournament finish in six seasons, and the men’s program improved its regional ranking from 13th to 5th.

During the 2001 season, Ray served as the assistant men’s and women’s tennis coach at the University of Northern Iowa. While mainly responsible for the women’s program, he helped them reach a 15-5 record and a No. 68 national ranking, the first in school history.

During the 1999 and 2000 seasons, Ray spent time as a volunteer coach at the University of Oklahoma where they obtained a No. 30 national ranking and No. 1 ranking in the central region.

A four-year letterman at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Ray was a member of the 1997 NCAA Div. II Regional qualifying team and received the 1997 Nebraska Collegiate Male Sportsmanship Award.

Ray received Bachelor of Science degrees in Sports Administration and Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1998. He earned his Master of Science in Sport Management from the University of Oklahoma in 2000.

Ray currently resides in Ypsilanti.