The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is pleased to announce the addition of Casey Angle, Dash Connell, Sanela Kunovac, Erica Perkins Jasper, and Alison Swain to the ITA Women’s Hall of Fame Committee. These five individuals will join ten returning members. For more information about our five newest members, continue reading below.
Casey Angle
Casey Angle joined the ITA in 1997 at a Media Coordinator and eventually became Director of Championships and Communications prior to his departure in 2008. During his time with the ITA, Angle oversaw and managed the ITA’s Regional and National Championship tournaments, its ranking program and overall communications. Angle was also named to “40 Under 40” by Tennis Industry Magazine while at the ITA.
Currently, Angle serves as a Senior Event Planner at SEI, a company that delivers technology and investment solutions that connect the financial services industry. He is in his 16th year with SEI.
Dash Connell
Dash Connell was hired as the Liberty Women’s Tennis Head Coach this past summer, following a successful head coach career at Tyler Junior College, which included 11 national championship titles (six NJCAA Women’s Tennis national championships (2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022) and five NJCAA Men’s Tennis national championships (2013, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024).
In 2024, Connell was named the Wilson ITA Men’s National Coach of the Year after leading Tyler Junior College to their 18th national championship and finishing No. 1 in the JUCO ITA Men’s National Tennis Rankings. During his 14 seasons with the Apaches, Connell coached 45 ITA All-American women’s players and 47 ITA All-American men’s players.
Active in the tennis coaching community, Connell served as the NJCAA Women’s Tennis Coaches’ Association President (2015-2017) and is currently the NJCAA Men’s Tennis Coaches Association President. The five-time Wilson/ITA NJCAA National Coach of the Year has also served on the ITA Coaches Operating Committee as one of two Junior College national chairs since 2017.
Sanela Kunovac
Sanela Kunovac entered her 16th season at the helm of the University of Pennsylvania Women’s Tennis program this past fall. Under her leadership, the Quakers have achieved impressive results, including a historic 2023-24 season where the team recorded 17 wins—the most for the program since 1998—and finished second in the Ivy League. In 2012 Kunovac was honored with the USTA Middle States Coach of the Year Award and over the years she has been instrumental in shaping the program’s success, as evidenced by the history making Fall 2024 where Penn sent program record 6 players to the ITA All-American Championships, qualified four players to the ITA Sectionals, won back-to-back the ITA Regional titles and ultimately for the first time in program history, Penn sent two singles players to the NCAA Singles Championships in Sabine Rutlauka and Esha Velaga.
Before Rutlauka and Velaga, Kunovac coached Iuliia Bryzgalova to an extraordinary campaign, earning unanimous Ivy League Rookie and Player of the Year honors and advancing to the NCAA Singles Championships. Bryzgalova’s success continued under Kunovac’s direction in the fall of 2020, as she achieved a national singles ranking of No. 13—and, alongside Marija Curnic, claimed the ITA Northeast Regional doubles title en route to a national doubles ranking of No. 39.
An interesting hallmark of Kunovac’s career is her unique contribution to Ivy League history. Only six players in the history of the Ivy League have ever earned the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and the Ivy League Player of the Year honors in the same season. Remarkably, Kunovac is directly responsible for four of of those six—first, as the inaugural Penn player herself to achieve this feat in 2001 and later by recruiting the other three to Penn tennis program – Connie Hsu (2011), Iuliia Bryzgalova (2019) and Esha Velaga (2023).
Before taking over the head coach position at Penn, Kunovac served as a volunteer assistant with the Quakers and the University of Arizona. Prior to her coaching career, Kunovac enjoyed a decorated playing career at Penn. She made history in 2001 as the first Penn women’s tennis player to earn both Ivy League Rookie and Player of the Year honors in the same season. That year, she played No. 1 singles and doubles, and led the Quakers to their first Ivy League championship and an NCAA Championship first-round upset win over nationally ranked Pepperdine, clincing the deciding point for the Quakers. The Quakers repeated as Ivy champions in 2002 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship. Kunovac was the program’s first three-year captain and a two-time All-Ivy selection in both singles and doubles (2001, 2002). In 2017, Kunovac was honored by being inducted into the University of Pennsylvania Tennis Hall of Fame.
Erica Perkins Jasper
Erica Perkins Jasper currently serves as the William B. Arce Director of Athletics, Physical Education, & Recreation and George R. Roberts Fellow for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athletics. Prior to starting her position at CMS in June of 2019, Jasper served as the Chief Operating Officer for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), where she formed close relationships with coaches, athletic directors, and student-athletes across the nation.
Before joining the ITA in 2015, Jasper was the head women’s coach at the University of New Mexico, where she coached the Lobos to a Mountain West Conference title, Michigan State University, and Georgia Southern University. She also served as the assistant women’s coach for the College of William and Mary.
Jasper is a former student-athlete, having competed at Washington State University, where she was an Academic All-American and received the Pac-10 Conference medal. She was the first WSU player to compete in the NCAA singles championship (three times), and also competed in the NCAA doubles championship. She was the first player to compete in four NCAA team championships, and in 2015, was the first tennis player inducted into the WSU Hall of Fame.
Alison Swain
Alison Swain began her eighth season as the women’s head coach of the Women of Troy this past fall following a momentous 2023-24 season. The USC Women’s Tennis program finished No. 13 in the national team rankings after compiling a 20-9 overall record (8-2 in Pac-12 competition). With the successful season, Swain surpassed the 100-dual mark win and the Trojans finished the conference championship tied for third place.
Prior to arriving at USC, Swain posted an .889 winning percentage (224-28) in her 10 seasons (2008-2017) at Williams, including 48-2 in NCAA tournament play. She led the Ephs to 8 NCAA team championships and 5 conference championships.
Swain was named the 2013 ITA National Division III Coach of the Year, was a 5-time conference Coach of the Year and twice the ITA Northeast Coach of the Year. She produced two NCAA champion doubles teams (Juli Raventos and Linda Shin, 2015, 2016) and a trio of NCAA singles runners-up, along with 18 All-Americans, 2 ITA National Senior Players of the Year and an ITA National Most Improved Senior of the Year.
During her time as a collegiate athlete, Swain became the second person in any division to win an NCAA tennis team championship as both a player and a coach. She co-captained Williams’ 2001 NCAA Championship team, won All-New England Small College Athletic Conference honors, and was named a Scholar-Athlete All-American.
About the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men’s and Women’s Halls of Fame aspire to preserve and celebrate the history and further the development of intercollegiate tennis through the collection of historic memorabilia and with inductions of notable players, coaches, and contributors.
About The ITA – The ITA is the governing body of college tennis and a coaches association, both an advocate and an authority for the sport and its members. The ITA is committed to serving college tennis and returning the leaders of tomorrow while promoting both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, founded in 1956, is comprised of more than 2,000 men’s and women’s varsity tennis teams representing more than 1,250 institutions, 3,000 college tennis coaches, 1,400 college tennis officials, while administering numerous regional and national championships, and the ITA College Tennis Rankings for 20,000 college varsity student-athletes across five levels of play. The ITA also bolsters an industry-leading awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership, and sportsmanship. Keep up with all of the excitement around college tennis by visiting WeAreCollegeTennis.com and following the ITA on Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
