The Flames claimed all singles matches in straight sets
Eight-Time Horizon League Coach of the Year (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)
Entering her 12th season as head women's tennis coach of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Shannon Tully continues to cultivate a program engrained in excellence at UIC.
An eight-time Horizon League Coach of the Year, Tully recorded her 150th all-time career win over Horizon League-foe Green Bay on March 19, 2011, at the Match Point Tennis Club, in Griffith, Ind. Tully's career record stands at 177 wins and only 83 losses in 11 seasons in charge of the tennis program.
The Ohio native has made a huge mark on a program that has set the bar high in the Horizon League, which continued with a collection of bests during the 2012 season.On April 22, 2012, the team defeated a nationally-ranked opponent for the first time with a 4-3 win over No. 75 Akron. Taking the win into the postseason, the Flames captured their 16th-consecutive Horizon League Championship and marked their longest win streak in school history at 16, then went on to make their 14th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Under Tully in 2010, the Flames found themselves ranked ninth in the final Division I Women's Midwest Rankings administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). This marked the highest-ever regional ranking for UIC and the first time the Flames finished a season ranked in the top 10 of its region. In 2012, the team reached the feat again for another ninth-place ranking.
Through Tully's guidance, the women's tennis dynasty has posted an undefeated dual-match record in Horizon League play, going an incredible 110-0 against conference foes in 11 seasons. UIC has the longest conference-only winning streak currently in the nation, and on April 19, 2008 the Flames reached their 100th straight win over a league rival with a 5-2 victory over Butler.
The squad enters the 2013 campaign with 143-straight match wins over league opponents, a streak dating back to the 1996 season. All in all, Tully has coached five Horizon League Player of the Year selections and five league Newcomer of the Year winners. Mariya Kovaleva was honored the Horizon League Player of the Year for the fourth-straight year in her senior year, and the first player in the conference history to do so. Her athletes have also earned 40 All-Horizon League honors. Tully also coached the school's first-ever ranked player when Beatriz Cabrera broke through the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's weekly rankings at No. 104 on May 3, 2004. Cabrera also finished the 2004 season as the tenth-ranked player in the Midwest Region.
In addition to her work at UIC, Tully has served on the ITA Midwest Regional Committee and on the NCAA Regional Committee.
A 1996 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Tully played four seasons for the Badgers from 1991-1995 and served as the team's captain for the 1994-95 season. In 1993, Tully was honored as the Big Ten's Sportswoman of the Year and received Academic All-Big Ten recognition every season she played.
Tully earned an MBA with a concentration in marketing and management from UIC in 2006.
