Laura Glitz
Laura Glitz enters her sixth year at Purdue and has already reached unprecedented success. Glitz led the Boilermakers to their first Big Ten Tournament Title in program history in 2012 following the best conference conclusion since 1998 with a third place Big Ten finish in 2011.
The 2012 Boilermakers were led by senior Jennifer Rabot, a member of Glitz's inaugural recruiting class. Under Glitz's direction, Rabot held down the top singles spot and finished her career as the all-time winningest doubles player in program history. Rabot and Mara Schmidt had the second most wins as a doubles team in program history.
In 2012, Glitz led the team to a school-record 18 dual match victories. That mark breaks the previous record set by Glitz' team in 2010. Glitz also led the team to its three highest ranked victories in program history which, coincidentally, happened on back-to-back-to-back days. The Boilermakers knocked off No. 17 Nebraska, No. 11 Northwestern, and No. 15 Michigan in consecutive days to claim the Big Ten Tournament Title.
The Boilermakers also made the NCAA Tournament in 2012, by way of the Big Ten's automatic bid, for the first time since 2006. The team recorded its highest rankings in program history, reaching its peak at No. 22 following the Big Ten Tournament win which broke the previous record of No. 27 set earlier in the season. The team finished the year ranked No. 26, a program best. For her efforts in 2012, Glitz was named the Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year in the Ohio Valley Region.
The 2011 team was undefeated at home in conference play beating Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Penn State and Ohio State to clinch its third seed in the Big Ten tournament. The 2011-12 recruiting class is ranked No. 8 according to tennisrecruiting.com with blue-chipper Lynda Xepoleas and five-star recruit Daniela Vidal, marking the highest ranked recruiting class in program history.
The 2010 Boilermakers recorded the then-best season in program history, breaking program standards for single-season wins and most wins at home in a single season. Senior Michelle Sammons and sophomore Jennifer Rabot became Purdue's single-season doubles wins leaders.
Purdue has shown marked improvement since Glitz's first year at the helm, culminating with the 2010 team winning 17 dual matches to then break the previous single-season record of 16 set in 1982 and barely miss the NCAA Tournament. The Boilermakers, who reached a high of 35th in the national rankings during the season, were 49th when the final rankings came out. Sammons and Rabot led the way with 27 doubles victories in 2009-10, which broke the previous Purdue record for single-season wins by a doubles duo of 24 set in 1989-90.
Rabot also continued the run of Boilermakers selected to the All-Big Ten team as she garnered the recognition following a season that included 26 singles wins in addition to her record doubles total. Rabot's selection marked the sixth consecutive year a Purdue student-athlete was named to the team, which is the longest streak in program history. In 2011, Rabot repeated on the All-Big Ten second team. She was honored along with teammate Bhavani Tirumurti.
Glitz was able to pick up the streak, which was at three when she arrived in West Lafayette, and continue the tradition. Volunteer assistant coach Brooke Beier won the honor in 2008, and Sammons followed with a selection in 2009. Glitz also oversaw a new standard for in-season conference awards after Rabot and Sammons each earned Big Ten Player of the Week nods in 2010 to become the first pair of Boilermakers to receive an award in the same season. Tirumurti and freshman Mara Schmidt both received the Athlete of the Week award for wins against Indiana and Ohio State, respectively.
Following a four-win initial season at Purdue, Glitz directed a new corps of troops, which included only one student-athlete from the 2008 team, to nine wins and a sixth-place finish in the Big Ten. Five of the record-breaking 17 wins in 2010 came against conference competition, allowing the team to post a fifth-place Big Ten finish that matched its second-highest showing in the conference standings.
Since bringing in her first recruiting class before the 2008-09 season, Glitz has posted a record of 26-19 in dual matches. The 2010 lineup, which featured one senior, one junior, two sophomores and two freshmen, was comprised entirely of individuals recruited to Purdue by Glitz.
Glitz was named head coach of the Purdue women's tennis team following a three-year run at Cornell, in which she led the Big Red to a 27-23 record while not posting a losing record in any of her campaigns at the Ithaca, N.Y., campus.
In her final season at Cornell, Glitz's team attained a national ranking of 69th en route to a 10-6 record. Three of Glitz's student-athletes, Elizabeth Googe, Kasia Preneta and Nisha Suda, received postseason accolades from the Ivy League.
Prior to Cornell, Glitz was an assistant coach at Princeton University for four seasons. She assisted Princeton coaching legend Louise Gengler, helping out with all aspects of the program, including customizing drills for team and individual workouts, recruiting student-athletes and organizing the team's training program. During her time with the Tigers, four singles players and one doubles team were named to the All-Ivy first team and the squad finished in the top half of the Ivy standings each year.
A former All-American at Arizona State, Glitz competed on the WTA tour from 1990-94 and achieved a top-250 ranking in singles and a top-90 ranking in doubles play. She has competed in all four grand slam events. A four-time winner of the USPTA/MSTA Outstanding Women's Open Player of the Year (1992, 1994, 1996 and 2000), Glitz was ranked No. 1 nationally in the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) women's open singles in 1994.
From 1994 to 2000, Glitz served as the tennis director at the Yorktowne (Pa.) Racquet and Fitness Club, where she worked with numerous college-bound student-athletes. During that time, she also coached national and sectional ranked juniors at the Central Pennsylvania Area Training Center.
While at Arizona State, the All-America honoree served as team captain during her junior and senior seasons and played at both No. 1 singles and doubles for the Sun Devils before graduating in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in finance.
