Julia Sell
Julia S. Sell, who played No. 1 singles for the 2003 National Championship Team as a player at Florida and later helped Notre Dame to back-to-back Final Four appearances as an assistant, has been named the head women's tennis coach at LSU, vice chancellor and director of athletics Joe Alleva announced on June 1.
"Julia is a rising star in women's tennis," Alleva said. "She is very bright, passionate and competitive. She believes in developing student-athletes to be champions in competition, in the classroom and in life. I am very excited about having her join our team."
Sell comes to LSU from Boca Raton, Fla., where she had been assisting the USTA as a Regional Training Center Coach since August 2011.
"I'm truly honored to be the head women's tennis coach at LSU and very thankful to Joe Alleva for giving me this incredible opportunity," Sell said. "I felt an instant connection to LSU's rich athletic tradition and passion for excellence. My vision for the program aligns with the true LSU experience and I am looking forward to immersing myself into Tiger athletics and bringing the women's tennis team back to national prominence."
Prior to her stint with the USTA, Sell served as an assistant coach for Notre Dame for three years from September of 2008 until August of 2011 where she helped propel the Irish to their best results in program history, back to back Final Four appearances in the NCAA Team Tournament and a No. 5 year end ranking in 2009 and 2010. While at Notre Dame, she helped the Irish capture three Big East titles as well as reaching the semifinals of the 2009 ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Five players received All-American honors during
Off the court, Notre Dame's women's tennis team earned the highest grade point average among all of the Irish's teams with a 3.6 GPA in 2009 followed by a 3.65 in 2010.
In May of 2010 Sell was selected as a coach for the USTA Summer Collegiate Team, which serves as an elite training program for the top American collegiate tennis players who are trying to make the transition into professional tennis.
Sell got her start in coaching at the collegiate level in September of 2007 when she was named an assistant coach at Harvard. In her one season at Harvard, she helped recruit the nation's seventh-best signing class in 2007 followed by the nation's No. 2 rated class the following year.
A 2003 graduate of the University of Florida, Sell served as team captain for the Gators from 2000-2003 and played the #1 singles position for the 2003 National Championship Team. During her time in Gainesville, Florida won a national championship, two Southeastern conference championships, three SEC tournament championships and finished as the NCAA runner-up and National Team Indoor runner-up. She received Florida's Most Improved Player award, the SEC Outstanding Senior award and was named the ITA South Region Player of the Year as a senior in 2003. Scaringe achieved a career- high ITA singles ranking of 24th and 7th in doubles.
She also was a two-time Dorothy Anderson Award recipient, given to an athlete who displays the best combination of academics and character on and off the court, as well as being named a 2002 Sportsmanship Award honoree. Scaringe graduated 11th all-time in combined singles and doubles wins in Florida history and seventh all- time in doubles victories. She also was a member of Florida's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
As a junior player, Scaringe was a member of the U.S. National team, playing in all four junior Grand Slams and achieving a world ranking of 54th in singles and 42nd in doubles. Her best result came at the Australian Open where she reached the round of 16 in singles play.
A native of Marietta, Ga., the former Julia Scaringe earned her bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Florida in 2003.
