NORFOLK, Va. -- Newly-appointed head coach Dominik Mueller announced the hiring of Sergey Avdeyev as the assistant coach for men's tennis on Friday.
"Sergey has played and coached on the highest level of college tennis," said Mueller. "Not many coaches have an NCAA Final on their resume. His experience will be a tremendous asset to our team this year."
Avdeyev comes to ODU from Oklahoma, where he served as a volunteer assistant coach during the 2015-16 season. The Sooners went 20-11, but ended the season with a spectacular run to the NCAA Championship match. OU recorded upsets over No. 3 UCLA, No. 6 Wake Forest and No. 7 Georgia en route to the title match, before falling to top-seeded Virginia.
At Oklahoma, Avdeyev coached numerous nationally-ranked players and guided several Sooners at the Fall ITA Indoor National Championships and other individual fall tournaments.
"I am very excited to be here," said Avdeyev. "I have to thank President Broderick, Dr. Wood Selig, Bruce Stewart and Dominik Mueller for this wonderful opportunity. Old Dominion is a great university with amazing facilities."
A 2009 graduate of Oklahoma, Avdeyev was a top 50 college ranked player for the Sooners in doubles. He played in the No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles slot for OU and served as team captain during his senior year in 2008-09.
Following his collegiate career, Avdeyev also competed on the professional circuit for two years. A native of Kazakhstan, Avdeyev was ranked in the top 10 in his country and was also a member of the junior Davis Cup team for Kazakhstan. On the ATP, Avdeyev recorded several victories over top-200 world-ranked players.
"I am thrilled about the chance to work with this team, which is already a strong group," continued Avdeyev. "I believe the background that Dominik and I bring from two Big 12 powerhouses will definitely help ODU tennis continue to improve."