Catherine Wassick

Fr. | 5-8 | Morgantown HS | Morgantown, WV

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» Played at Morgantown High for coach Ted

Greenlee » All-State Tennis Team » State Champion, second seed » Regional champion in singles and doubles » Member of two state championship winning teams » Basketball All-Tournament Award » OVAC First Team in basketball

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» Daughter of John and Margaret Wassick » Has one sister » Birthday is January 16 » Majoring in exercise physiology

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28 30 30 Head Coach Miha Lisac Assistant Coach Jacob Eddins Support Staff

MIHA LISAC

» » » HEAD COACH 9TH SEASON VELENJE, SLOVENIA

Miha Lisac enters his ninth season as the head coach of the West Virginia University tennis program. The 2009 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Coach of the Year, Lisac previously spent six seasons as head coach at Georgia State, where he built one of the nation's top Division I programs. Lisac is a former student-athlete at Georgia State and served as the men’s assistant coach for two years. In 2007, Lisac was named head coach of the women’s tennis team at his alma mater. While at Georgia State, Lisac led the women’s tennis program to one conference title, back-to-back CAA Championship final appearances and two other berths in the CAA Championship semifinals. His overall record as a head coach stands at 111-145. The highlight of his tenure came in 2009 when he guided Georgia State to the first NCAA Championship appearance in school history and was named CAA Coach of the Year. AT W E S T V I R G I N I A

Lisac’s eighth season at WVU provided him with some unprecedented challenge which were brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. West Virginia’s fall tournament schedule was shortened as the Mountaineers competed in one event of the inaugural Intercollegiate Tennis Association Fall Circuit. In the event, newcomer Momoko Nagato earned a trio of wins to claim a second-place finish and catapult WVU into the spring season. Beginning the season a month later than usual, WVU rattled off three consecutive victories to open its dual season, including a sweep over Cleveland State to open the 2021 campaign. The Mountaineers faced five ranked opponents to open Big 12 play, before injuries and roster limitations forced the team to end its season on April 7. West Virginia concluded the season with a 3-6 mark. In his seventh season with the Mountaineers, Lisac led the team to a 7-3 mark and the first winning season since 2010, when WVU finished the year with a record of 17-7. West Virginia began the season with a pair of sweeps before rattling off five more wins to begin the season 7-0. It marked the best start to a season since 1986, when WVU began the year 12-0. Following a rocky start to Big 12 Conference play, Lisac and the Mountaineers saw their season cut short in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lisac and the Mountaineers finished the 2019 season with a record of 10-12, the best mark WVU had achieved since 2010 (17-7). WVU competed against six ranked opponents in 2019, including four in the top 25 nationally, and swept four opponents. West Virginia’s four sweeps were the most since 2008, when WVU finished the season with eight. Led by two 30-win seasons from Anne-Sophie Courteau and Anastasiia Bovolskaia, six Mountaineers finished with 15 or more wins, five finished with 20 or more wins and three finished with 25 or more wins. Seven Mountaineers were named to Academic AllBig 12 teams in 2019, including five studentathletes who were named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team, the most in the Big 12 conference. Abigail Rosiello capped the season by being named to the CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District and All-America Teams, West Virginia’s second selection in as many years. West Virginia wrapped up the 2018 season with a 7-14 overall record while competing against at least eight teams ranked in the top 50 of the ITA/Oracle team rankings for the second consecutive year. The highlight of the campaign came with a 4-1 win over Iowa State, WVU’s first Big 12 conference win in program history. The win solidified the program’s growth under Lisac’s watch and marked another milestone in his goal to become consistent Big 12 contenders. In addition to leading WVU past in-state rival Marshall for the second straight year, West Virginia also saw four Mountaineers post at least 20 wins in singles and doubles play during the year. Paula Goetz capped the season by being named to the CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District and AllAmerica Teams, the Mountaineers’ first selection in program history. WVU concluded the 2017 campaign with a 4-16 overall record, facing eight opponents that were ranked in the top 50. Lisac led the Mountaineers to a win over Marshall, ending the Thundering Herd’s four-match winning streak in the series. The season also saw two Mountaineers, Christina Jordan and Habiba Shaker, head to the ITA AllAmerican Championships for the first time under Lisac. In the spring, Shaker led the team in singles play with a record of 8-5 at the No. 1 position, while Paula Goetz paced the Mountaineers in doubles with a 9-7 record. West Virginia capped its 2016 season with a 6-15 overall record, competing against seven opponents ranked in the nation’s top 50 throughout the spring season. Lisac guided the Mountaineers to a No. 75 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national ranking for what was believed to be the first time in program history. In that same week, West Virginia edged Cornell in a 4-3 battle for the first time since 1995 to tie the all-time series record at two apiece on Feb. 27, 2016. West Virginia concluded its 2015 campaign with a 9-13 overall record. The Mountaineers recorded nine straight wins for the first time since 2010 and earned the program’s 450th win at Toledo on Jan. 31. In the spring season, WVU competed against nine ranked opponents, with its last five competitors ranked in the nation’s Top 40. Hailey Barrett earned her first victory over a ranked opponent in 2015, defeating Baylor’s then-ranked No. 82 Rachael Jakes-Baker in straight sets. Carolina Lewis was the first player since 2003 to tally 20 singles wins in a season, ending her freshman campaign with a 24-6 singles record. Habiba Shaker also held a team-best mark in doubles play (12-5) as she teamed up with Lyn Yuen Choo, Yvon Martinez, Barrett and Lewis throughout the spring season. In his first season at West Virginia, Lisac led the freshmen tandem of Kaja Mrgole and Oana Manole to a No. 9 ranking by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) in the Atlantic Region entering the spring season. The WVU duo finished the fall season at 5-8 and battled their way to the quarterfinals at the USTA/ITA Regional in Charlottesville, Virginia. Vivian Tsui tallied three straight wins at the USTA/ITA Regionals and made it further in the main singles draw bracket than any other Mountaineer, after surviving the qualifying bracket. In the spring season, freshmen Oana Manole and Kaja Mrgole led the team with a combined 24 wins in singles and doubles. Mrgole posted a team-high 13 wins in the spring. AT GEORGIA STATE

Lisac’s final season with Georgia State was a benchmark year for the program, as Abigail Tere-Apisah became the school’s firstever tennis All-American, after advancing to the Round of 16 at the NCAA Singles Championship. Tere-Apisah also took home CAA Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Performer honors. Whitney Byrd and Maryna Kozachenko became just the second pair in Lisac’s tenure to earn All-CAA First Team Doubles honors. The team advanced to its second straight CAA finals and earned its highest ITA Ranking in school history (No. 38 on Feb. 25, 2012). The team finished the