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Year Nine for the winningest coach in Lady Rebel history and the hits just keep on coming for Kevin Cory.
A veteran of the elite tennis world of the Southeastern Conference, Cory was named to lead the UNLV women's program on August 17, 1999. In the ensuing eight years, Cory has firmly entrenched his team in the national rankings and himself as one of the top coaches in all the West. Active in his profession, Cory was a member of the ITA National Committee from 2003-05 and was a longtime member of the West Region Committee.
His strong leadership of Lady Rebel Tennis is evident on an annual basis. The facts: In 2007, his squad went to its fourth Mountain West Conference championship match in the event's eight-year history, earned an at-large bid to the NCAA championships, boasted the MWC's Co-Player of the Year and sent a doubles team to the second round of the national championship tourney. The 2006 team moved as high as 37th and finished among the nation's top 50 for the fifth straight season. Individually, the Lady Rebels boasted a singles All-American and conference MVP and saw two players end the season ranked for only the second time in school history.
The 2005 edition earned a spot in the nation's top 30 as a team and the top 25 for a singles player, and secured a return to the NCAA Championships. One year earlier, UNLV produced an 11-2 home record and returned a singles player to the ITA Rankings. In 2003, the Lady Rebels broke the school record for highest preseason ranking (17th), won their first-ever regular-season conference title, stayed in the nation's top 25 for a bulk of the season and went to the NCAA tourney. In 2002, Cory led his team to new heights with the school's first top-20 final national ranking, a second MWC title and a program-record .833 single-season winning percentage after a 20-4 campaign that ended in the NCAA tournament.
Sandwiched between his three league titles was the rebuilding year of 2001 when UNLV still produced a third-place regular-season finish, a MWC Freshman of the Year and another singles representative at the NCAA Championships.
In 2000, the rookie head coach simply led his squad to the school's first-ever league championship, helped guide the greatest individual postseason in UNLV history and was named MWC Coach of the Year.
All of college tennis took notice when a pair of Lady Rebels, Katarina Malec and Marianne Bakken earned spots into the 2000 NCAA Championships and surged deeper into the tournament than any women in school history, including Malec's appearance in the national semifinals.
"We have a lot to be proud of in the last eight years," Cory says. "I think that the sky is the limit for our tennis program. We will settle for nothing less than competing for the conference championship every year and being a factor in the NCAA tournament."
Moving from one Lady Rebel program to another, Cory came to Las Vegas from the University of Mississippi where he had served as assistant coach since 1996. The 1998 ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year, Cory helped the Lady Rebels from UM earn a place among the national powers of college tennis, including the school's most successful season in history. In 1999, Ole Miss set a school record for most victories (24-5), posted a best-ever final ranking (sixth), won its first SEC tournament title and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships.
Cory moved to Ole Miss after three years as director of tennis for the Umpqua Valley Tennis Club in Roseburg, Ore. In addition, he coached the Roseburg High School team to two consecutive state runner-up finishes.
He began his career at Courthouse Athletic Club in Salem, Ore., after graduating from the University of Oregon in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in sports management. The four-year letterman for the Ducks played No. 1 singles and doubles as a senior and was a 1990 first team All-Pac-10 selection while finishing in the top 10 in career victories at the school. A native of California, he is a 1985 graduate of Los Altos High School. A resident of Henderson, Cory has a son, Spencer (4).
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