Sept. 17, 2008

LAS VEGAS - Former collegiate and professional player Mark Roberts has been named assistant coach for the UNLV women's tennis team, head coach Kevin Cory announced Wednesday.

"We are thrilled to have somebody of Mark's caliber working with our program," Cory said. "He brings a tremendous amount of court experience from day one. He will no doubt help us to continue to compete for conference championships and postseason appearances."

Roberts, 27, joins the Lady Rebels after serving as a teaching pro since 2006 at the Upper St. Clair Tennis Development Program in Pittsburgh, Penn. He also was a pro at clubs in Deerfield and Lake Forest, Ill., from 2004-06.

"I am real excited to be back in the college game as a coach," said Roberts. "It's also great to be back in the West and I'm looking forward to getting going."

Previous to that, Roberts was a graduate assistant coach at New Mexico State under longtime head man Don Ball. A 2004 graduate of NMSU, Roberts was team captain while playing in the No. 1 spot in singles and doubles for the Aggies during his senior campaign.

He transferred to Las Cruces after having played his first three seasons at Western Athletic Conference powerhouse Boise State where he rose to as high as 74th in singles and 23rd in doubles in the national rankings. An NCAA Doubles Championship participant in 2003, Roberts also tied the school record for singles victories in a season as a sophomore with 31.

A native of Durban, South Africa, Roberts previously competed on the ATP Tour and earned world rankings as high as 974 in singles and 1272 in doubles in 2001.