Dominic Manilla

Having completed his 12th season in 2022-23 at Old Dominion with a 181-84 record, Coach Dominic Manilla continues to deliver success to the Women’s Tennis Program. 

For his efforts at Old Dominion, he has been awarded the 2018, 2019 and 2021 ITA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, the 2019, 2020 and 2021 Conference USA Coach of the Year, the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year and the 2018 VaSID State Coach of the Year. Manilla was also named the 2020 Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) Virginia Member of the Year for his efforts.

In 2022-23, the Monarchs begin play in the Sun Belt Conference where ODU went undefeated in its first regular season action winning all 10 matches. ODU ended the year winners of 13 of its last 14 matches, including a Sun Belt Conference Tournament title with a 4-0 win over James Madison and a win in the first round of NCAA Tournament over South Carolina 4-2. ODU played its usual challenging non-conference schedule facing Penn State, Ohio State, Columbia, Wake Forest twice, Iowa State, Florida State, Princeton and Kansas. Tatsiana Sasnouskaya earned Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year honors and was joined on the first team All-Conference squad by Sofia Johnson. She also advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In doubles, Sasnouskaya and Johnson were first team All-Conference honorees and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 


In 2021-22, the Monarchs concluded their time in Conference USA by capturing their second straight C-USA Tournament crown with a thrilling 4-3 win over Charlotte. Old Dominion swept the tournament honors winning Outstanding Singles Player of the Championship and the Outstanding Doubles Team of the Championship. The Monarchs finished a perfect 12-0 at home and ran their home court winning streak to 37 in a row.  ODU won the ITA Kickoff Weekend Atlanta Regional advancing to the ITA Indoor Nationals where they recorded a win over Wisconsin. In the Atlanta Regional, they defeated 12th-ranked Georgia Tech and Ole Miss by 4-3 scores to advance. They finished the year with Yuliia Starodubtseva ranked 18th in singles, Alexandra Viktorovich 104th, Tatsiana Sasnouskaya 108th and the doubles team of Starodubtseva and Sasnouskaya ranked seventh. The Monarchs recorded a win in the NCAA tournament for the second straight year and had Starodubtseva represent the school at the NCAA Singles Championships, while her and Sasnouskaya represented ODU in the doubles tournament.

In 2020-21, Manilla earned the C-USA Coach of the Year honors for the third consecutive season. 2021 marked the first time since 2010-11, that the program has had back-to-back conference players of the year. Manilla led Old Dominion to its second ever conference championship and first in 20 years. 2021 marked the Monarchs first time winning the Conference USA title. The 2021 NCAA Tournament appearance was the third in program history, as ODU picked up its first team win in program history in the NCAA Tournament after taking down No. 33 Arkansas by a 4-2 score in the First Round. Starodubtseva delivered ODU's first win in the NCAA Singles Tournament for the program since 2004.
 
The highlights kept coming throughout the 2019-20 season, as the team finished with a No. 24 national ranking, while Yulia Starodubtseva and Alesya Yakubovich ended the year as the No. 7 ranked doubles tandem in the country, which is the highest doubles ranking in program history. No. 38 Holly Hutchinson was also nationally ranked in singles.

Manilla’s team also dominated in the classroom, turning in the highest team GPA at ODU for the 2019-20 academic year (3.75), as well as for the spring semester (3.82). All seven of his student-athletes were named Scholar-Athletes by the ITA in 2020.
 
In the fall of 2019, Starodubtseva/Yakubovich won the ITA Atlantic Region Doubles Championship, punching their ticket to the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Newport Beach, Cali., where they downed three nationally ranked tandems to ultimately advance to the Final Four of the Fall National Championships.
 
In the 2018-19 season, Manilla earned his 100^th career victory as a head coach (Jan. 13, 2019) and brought the program to its highest ever ranking of No. 19 in the ITA National Rankings, as well as received an at large bid to the NCAA tournament. His program has secured wins over national powerhouses such as Virginia, Tennessee and Baylor. Since his arrival, Manilla has guided a multitude of players to All-Conference First and Second team honors and national rankings. In addition, Manilla signed the highest rated recruit in program history, Borislava Botusharova. She was named the No. 6 ranked Newcomer/Freshman in the NCAA and was named the recipient of the 2015 ITA Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year.
 
In addition to his success on the court, Manilla’s teams have excelled in the classroom. Each year since 2014, over half his team has been awarded the highest academic achievements and has been honored numerous times as an 2017-18 Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team.
 
"I was most impressed with Dom as an assistant tennis coach at ODU upon my arrival. He has only enhanced his tennis acumen with his stint at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy Coaching staff," ODU AD Dr. Wood Selig said. "Dom knows the ODU program and has great vision on improving our program to one of the nation's top women's programs in the country. He presented an extremely detailed plan for enhancing our recruiting, competitiveness, scheduling and fundraising that captured the attention and interest of the entire selection committee. We welcome Dom back as our new head women's tennis coach."
 
Manilla, an ODU graduate and former men's tennis player, spent a year coaching at the prestigious John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York. Manilla was a part of the day-to-day on court training and worked closely with McEnroe, Gilad Bloom (former ATP #56 ranking and Academy Director) and Fritz Buehning (former ATP #21 ranking and Assistant Academy Director).
 
Before joining the McEnroe Academy, Manilla returned to his alma mater for three years as an assistant coach. Manilla joined the Monarchs in the fall of 2007 and helped ODU to a third-place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association and a ranking as high as No. 38 during the season, as well as an appearance in the conference tournament semifinals. The Monarchs reached the semi's again in 2009 and placed the doubles team of Aleksandr Seleznev and Tobias Fanselow in the NCAA Doubles Tournament, with Seleznev qualifying for the singles tournament.
 
Dominic grew up in a tennis family as his father, Ron Manilla, is an ATP and WTA Tournament Director as well as a PTR International Master Professional and US Special Olympic National Coach. Dominic's brother, Josef Manilla, is the Assistant Coach of the Men’s Tennis Team at the University of Iowa.
 
"I feel fortunate to have Dom return to his alma mater. I think he embodies the tangible and intangible qualities that will enable him as a head coach to foster a winning culture within our program," Associate Athletic Director and Committee Chair Bruce Stewart said. "He is a tireless individual that not only has the best interest of our program at heart, but truly bleeds blue and will be an asset to our campus community."