Brooke Bolender, one of the most accomplished women’s tennis players to come from the Michigan program, will enter her second season as an Assistant Coach for the Bronco program in 2016-17. Bolender recently completed a season as a student-assistant for the Wolverines, who went 26-4 in 2015 in claiming the Big Ten championship and advancing to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament.
In Bolender's first year as as assistant coach in 2015-16, she helped lead the Broncos to their highest win total since the 2008-09 season with a 19-8 record overall record to go along with a 6-2 record in the MAC. Under Bolender, WMU went 2-0 in the MAC Tournament before falling in the MAC Tournament Championship with a team that did not boast one senior. She helped coach junior Tracy Kuhle to earn Second Team All-MAC and All-MAC Tournament team honors.
Bolender graduated as the Wolverines’ career leader in singles victories (112), doubles victories (121) and combined victories (233), having earned First Team All-Big Ten honors in each season of her athletic career. She earned ITA All-America doubles honors twice in her college career, reaching as high as No. 8 in the national rankings as a freshman with teammate Denise Muresan and making it all the way to #4 in the nation while teamed with Emina Bektas as a junior in 2012-13. She and Bektas earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2014, marking the fourth straight year in which Bolender participated in the doubles bracket.
As a junior in 2013, Bolender clinched Michigan’s 7-0 win over Ohio State to seal the Wolverines’ fourth straight Big Ten championship; she went 10-1 in singles play against conference opposition that year and tacked on a 2-1 record at the Big Ten Tournament. She was a standout with Bektas in the No. 1 doubles spot, going 21-4 at the spot as the pair entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 5-8 seed. Bolender clinched another important match as a sophomore, picking a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 53 Nazari Urbina of Texas A&M to help U-M to a second-round victory in the NCAA Tournament.
Bolender did not play high school tennis but rather trained at the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Fla. A blue chip recruit out of her prep career, she was a member of the USTA High Performance Development Program and was at one point ranked as the No. 10 high school senior in the country. Bolender achieved great success at the international level, reaching No. 97 in the world junior rankings and competing in the Junior U.S. Open, Junior French Open and Junior Wimbledon.
Bolender graduated from Michigan with a degree in Elementary Education in 2015. She is a native of Delray Beach, Fla.
