Women's Tennis
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- jmainz@ia.ua.edu
- Phone:
- 205-310-0378
Mainz Notable Highlights
- Named 2013Â ITA National Coach of the Year
- Blue Gray National Tennis Hall of Fame
- Alabama Tennis Hall of Fame
- Named Three-Time Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year – 2011, 2012, 2014
- Six Time ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year - 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2019
- Led Alabama to its first conference title with the 2014 SEC Regular Season Championship
- Two NCAA Doubles Championships - 2014 & 2015
- Doubles NCAA Championship match Appearances in 2014, 2015 & 2017
- 15 of Alabama's 17Â NCAA Team Tournament Appearances came under Mainz
- 4 SEC Western Division Titles - 2003, 2006, 2011 and 2012
- 29Â NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship Selections
- Coached 11Â All-Americans in the last nine years
National coach of the year; three-time SEC coach of the year; two-time national champion; the longest-tenured Women's Tennis Coach at the University of Alabama, and the second longest-tenured women’s tennis coach in the storied SEC — arguably the best tennis conference in the nation year-in and year-out.Â
On the Court
Known as “The Dean” of the coaches across the campus of the University of Alabama, head coach Jenny Mainz announced her retirement at the end of the 2022-23 season, concluded her 26th season at the helm of the Alabama women's tennis program. Over the years, Mainz has become one of the most accomplished and decorated coaches in Southeastern Conference history.
As the only coach in Alabama tennis history to take the Tide to six-consecutive NCAA championships and 15Â overall, she has cemented her name in the Crimson Tide record books. Mainz has coached 14Â teams that have finished in the top 40 in addition to 29Â singles players and 20 doubles teams ranked in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls.
In Mainz's final campaign, the team posted 12 wins, including five SEC victories. For the second consecutive season, Loudmilla Bencheikh earned all-conference honors making Second Team All-SEC. The team performed well off the court as well, having four members named to the College Sports Communicators' Academic All-District Team.Â
Mainz coached the team to its 17th overall NCAA appearance and 15th under her guidance in 2022. The team opened the season with a nine-match winning streak, the best start to a season since 2018. Petra Sedlackova was named the ITA Southern Region Rookie of the Year, putting together a team-leading 23 singles wins in addition to 18 doubles victories. Sedlackova earned Second Team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman Team honors, while Loudmilla Bencheikh picked up First Team All-SEC honors. Both Bencheikh and Sedlackova competed at the NCAA Singles Championships, while Bencheikh and Anne Marie Hiser advanced to the ITA Fall National Championships after winning the ITA Southern Regional Doubles Draw.Â
During the 2021 season, Mainz led the Crimson Tide to 12 wins, including notable victories over Missouri, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Alba Cortina Pou became the third player in program history to earn back-to-back CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. Cortin Pou was also a nominee for the 2021 Southeastern Conference H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The team advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 14th time.Â
In 2020, Mainz had the team at 12-6 before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on in the 2020 campaign, Alba Cortina Pou made program history as the only Alabama women’s tennis player to win the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week award in back-to-back weeks (Feb. 5 & 12).
In 2019, Mainz and the Crimson Tide ended the year with 18 wins, most victories since 2015, and appeared in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed in the Tallahassee Regional, making the team's first appearance since 2015. Mainz was named the ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year for the sixth time in her career. Additionally, Mainz also coached senior Andie Daniell to her second NCAA Singles Championship appearance.
In 2017, Alabama was ranked in the ITA polls for 11-straight weeks during which time the team defeated in-state rival No. 12 Auburn, 4-3. The squad also topped two other top-40 teams including No. 40 Tulsa (Feb. 24) and No. 13 Kentucky (March 24). In doubles, the dynamic duo of Maddie Pothoff and Erin Routliffe finished as the runner-up at the NCAA Doubles Championship, which marked the third time a Tide pairing made the finals in four years. The tandem ended the year as the second-best team in the nation and registered four victories against ranked opponents in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The most notable win the pair had on the year was in a 7-6 (4) decision against Kentucky’s No. 4-ranked doubles team which helped the Tide edge the Wildcats for the 14th time in school history.
In 2015, the Crimson Tide collected 18 wins overall, bringing its total victories since 2011 to 98, the most in a five-year span in program history. On May 25, 2015, reigning NCAA Doubles Champions, Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe, stamped their names in the collegiate tennis record books, defeating Cal’s Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi by a final score of 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3 to become only the third doubles team in the history of NCAA women’s tennis to win back-to-back national titles. Mainz had a pair of singles players in Andie Daniell and Routliffe cap off the season ranked nationally while also placing two doubles teams in the final rankings. Daniell became one of the most decorated freshmen in Alabama history as she was named SEC Freshman of the Year, ITA Southern Region Rookie of the Year, second team All-SEC and to the SEC All-Freshman team. Routliffe also stamped her name in the Tide record books as she became the fourth to earn first team All-SEC honors for a third consecutive season.
Mainz’s 2014 team made history, wrapping up the season as the sixth-ranked squad in the ITA rankings, the highest final ranking for the program. Alabama was ranked in the top-10 throughout the year, reaching a No. 2 ranking on May 1, the highest rank in the history of the program. The 2014 Crimson Tide women finished with just one loss in conference play and posted seven 4-0 sweeps throughout the season. But most noteworthy, her team captured the program’s first Southeastern Conference Championship. With a 4-3, come-from-behind victory at eighth-ranked Georgia, Alabama clinched at least a part of the 2014 SEC title. That wasn’t enough for the Tide women, who followed that up with a 4-0 sweep of Tennessee to claim the conference title outright on the final day of the regular season.
In 2012, the Crimson Tide doubles pairing of Alexa Guarachi and Mary Anne Daines reached the NCAA semifinals, while Guarachi also reached the NCAA semifinals in singles that same season.
In 2011, UA finished fourth in the conference and claimed the SEC Western Division regular-season title. The Tide once again claimed the Western Division title in 2012, this time finishing second overall. For the 2013 season, Alabama was ranked fourth in the conference, but the Crimson Tide continued to build upon its success as the team entered 2014.
Other Notable Highlights
- Jansen/Routliffe Qualified for US Open Main Draw Women’s Doubles – 2015
- NCAA Doubles Finalist in 2017 – Routliffe/Pothoff finished ranked #2 in country
- 2013 Member of the Winston Churchill High School Hall of Fame
- 2015 Inductee into USTA Alabama Tennis Foundation Hall of Fame
- 11Â Academic All-America honors
- Nine SEC Scholar Athletes of the Year accolades
- Led Alabama to its best season in history, winning the 2014 SEC Team Championship and earning a National Ranking of #2 in the Country
- Served as ITA Southern Region Chairperson for Six Years
- Served on ITA Operating Committee for Seven Years
- Served on ITA Executive Committee and ITA Board of Directors
- Served as Co-Chair of the ITA Women’s Tennis Committee for two years
In the Classroom
In the classroom; on the court; and in the community — Mainz and her charges strive excellence on all three fronts, and she won’t settle for anything less.
As proud as she is of her team’s on-court success, Mainz is equally as proud of their well-earned reputation for academic excellence. The Alabama women have impressed in the classroom each year under her tutelage. For six-straight years, the Crimson Tide has earned the NCAA Division I Public Recognition Award. At the conclusion of the 2013-14 and 2016-17 season, the women’s tennis team combined for the highest grade point average among UA women’s programs at UA. In each of the last five seasons, the Tide has had six or more women earn ITA Scholar Athletes accolades.
Under Mainz, Alabama has earned Academic All-America honors a dozen time, while the Tide has also claimed a league-best seven SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards for women’s tennis. Since the Award's inception in 2009, a member of the UA women’s team has claimed the prestigious NCAA Elite 90 Award, an honor that is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 90 championships, three times.
In order to help produce such well-rounded young women, Mainz preaches three core values to her players: having a blue-collar work ethic, striving for constant improvement and working together as a team.
The Crimson Tide athletes under Mainz have seen a lot of success during their active time as an athlete with the team, but the women don’t stop their studies once their playing days are over. Alabama women have earned five NCAA postgraduate scholarships.
Although much of the successes of any athletic team are seen on the court, Mainz has produced well-rounded athletes that work just as hard away from the sport. Her women continue to exemplify exactly what it means to be a student-athlete at The University of Alabama.
In the Community
In order to build the best possible persons, not just athletes, Mainz has placed a focus on community service and giving back to the Tuscaloosa area. Her athletes are not just stars on the court and in the classroom, but they are also champions of the University and make an impact on their community.
Every year, the women's tennis team makes it a point to take advantage of every opportunity they have to help out those in need in Tuscaloosa and surrounding areas. Over the past several years, the team has partnered with Habitat for Humanity to help build a house for a person in need. The team also takes part annually in the athletic department's Halloween Extravaganza for local youth, as well as the Project Angel Tree event, in which student-athletes help in making sure that children of incarcerated parents are provided presents each December holiday season.
For all their hard work on the court and in the community, Mainz and her team received a proclamation from Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox, making September 16, 2014 "University of Alabama Women's Tennis Day". The proclamation was given to the team in recognition of all that they have done in the past year, and to make sure that the community takes note of the accomplishments of the Alabama tennis program.
Mainz has been deeply involved in collegiate tennis on the national front, serving on the ITA's Operating Committee, including a stint as Associate Chair. She also served as the chairperson for the ITA's South Region for three years and assumed the same role for the newly formed Southern Region in 2010. Possibly her most prestigious work on the national front came in 2014, when the Alabama coach was selected as a member of the ITA Board of Directors.
Before Leading the Tide
Mainz, once ranked in the top 10 nationally in doubles, was a three-year team captain for the University of Houston Cougars and a two-time All-Southwest Conference selection, garnering numerous accolades for her dedication to the game of tennis on the court. Off the court, however, is where she truly shined, earning CoSIDA GTE Academic All-America status and dean’s list honors while also being a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society. Mainz graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from Houston in 1991.
Coaching Tree
Over her 28 years as a collegiate head coach, Mainz has shaped and helped her assistants and players grow into the best they can be, which has resulted in a wide-reaching coaching tree that extends across the country in college tennis. In fact, there are 10 past and present colleigate head coaches/associate head coaches leading Division I programs that worked under Mainz as well as two former players who have made their way up to leading Power 5 programs.
Former Assistants at Alabama under Head Coach Jenny Mainz
Jennifer Hyde: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at Florida State UniversityÂ
Kevin Epley: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at The University of South Carolina
Daryl Greenan: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at Mississippi State University
Alison Ojeda: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at The University of Tennessee
Eduardo Rincon:Â Former Head Coach at Presbyterian College
Rahim Esmail: Current Head Men’s Tennis Coach at the University of Washington
Drake Bernstein: Associate Head Women’s Tennis Coach at The University of Georgia
Max Norris: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at Ball State University
Shelley Godwin: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at James Madison University
Chris Powers: Current Head Men’s Tennis Coach at Coastal Carolina  Â
Former Alabama Player’s under Head Coach Jenny Mainz
Robin Stephenson:                        Head Women’s Tennis Coach at The University of Washington
Sasha Schmidt:                                Head Women’s Tennis Coach at The University of Iowa Â
Year-by-Year Results
Year                                                    School                                 Record   National Finish
1996                                                      Iowa                                        9-14   N/A
1997                                                      Iowa                                        7-15   N/A
1998                                                   Alabama                                    0-21   N/A
1999                                                   Alabama                                    3-18   N/A
2000                                                   Alabama                                    7-15   N/A
2001                                                   Alabama                                   16-10   No. 26/NCAA 2nd Rd
2002                                                   Alabama                                   13-11   No. 40/NCAA 2nd Rd
2003                                                   Alabama                                    18-8   No. 30/NCAA 2nd Rd
2004                                                   Alabama                                   13-11   No. 30/NCAA 1st Rd
2005                                                   Alabama                                    8-15   No. 38/NCAA 1st Rd
2006                                                   Alabama                                   11-12   No. 39/NCAA 1st Rd
2007                                                   Alabama                                    5-16   No. 82
2008                                                   Alabama                                    6-15   N/A
2009                                                   Alabama                                    15-9   No. 26/NCAA 1st Round
2010                                                   Alabama                                   10-12   No. 71
2011                                                   Alabama                                    16-7   No. 28/NCAA 2nd Rd
2012                                                   Alabama                                    18-5   No. 11/NCAA 2nd Rd
2013                                                   Alabama                                    21-6   No. 11/NCAA Rd of 16
2014                                                   Alabama                                    25-5   No. 6/NCAA Quarters
2015                                                   Alabama                                    18-8   No. 14/NCAA 2nd Rd
2016                                                   Alabama                                    5-18   N/A
2017                                                   Alabama                                    8-16   No. 43
2018                                                   Alabama                                   15-15   N/A
2019                                                   Alabama                                   18-12   No. 38/NCAA 1st Rd
2020                                                   Alabama                                    12-6   N/A***
2021                          Alabama                                    12-13   No. 43/NCAA 1st Rd  Â
2022                          Alabama                   15-12   No. 41/NCAA 1st RdÂ
2023                          Alabama                   12-12  No. 62
Overall Record (as head coach): 336-337
Record at Alabama: 320-308
*** season cut short due to COVID-19 pandemic
