Ashleigh Antal prepares for third season as head coach of the App State tennis team.

In Antal's second season, Helena Jansen was named to the All-Sun Belt First Team for her stellar singles play, going undefeated against conference opponents and finishing the regular season with six straight singles wins and an overall record of 15-7.

Of the six active players that Antal coached in the spring of 2022, four were newcomers to App State. Ellie Murphy, a sophomore transfer from Iowa State, led the team in doubles wins with 10.

In Antal's first season at the helm, the Mountaineers had to navigate their way through a season of uncertainty with COVID-19. App State posted a doubles tandem in María José Zacarias and Ksenia Aleshina being named All-Sun Belt First Team in doubles following a 10-4 overall and 7-2 in league action. 

The pairing's 10 wins led No. 1 doubles and the 7-2 mark also led all No. 1 doubles tandems in the Sun Belt. Zacarias/Aleshina put together a season-best six-match win streak and finished the year with an 8-1 showing over their last nine contests. 

They weren't the only App State duo to make some noise, as Jansen and Sandra Anglesjö were 10-3 overall. The two, 10-win doubles pairings led the Sun Belt in cominbed doubles victories. Jansen was nominated for Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year because of her doubles efforts, while she led the team with eight singles victories. 

Zacarias stepped up as the No. 1 with seven wins, which were tied for second with Aleshina. Zacarias was named Sun Belt Player of the Week for the first time in her career after finishing 3-0 in doubles and 2-0 in singles as the No. 1 in both lineups against UNCG, Troy and South Alabama. 

App State also earned ITA All-Academic honors for a fourth straight season while Anglesjö, Zacarias and Aleshina were named ITA Scholar-Athletes. 

"We are excited to welcome Ashleigh to the App Family," Gillin said. "Her championship experience as both a player and a coach made her the right choice to be the next leader of our women's tennis program. Ashleigh has an impressive vision for how to be successful on the court and in the classroom, while being a great partner in the community."

Antal (pronounced An-Tell), who was an All-American and national champion as a student-athlete at Vanderbilt, will take over an App State program that went 6-4 in the shortened 2019-20 season after compiling a 15-6 record and winning its first regular-season Sun Belt Championship with a 9-1 league mark in 2018-19.
 
A North Carolina native, Antal arrives in the High Country after spending two successful seasons as an assistant coach at Big West powerhouse Long Beach State, where she helped the Beach boast a 25-10 mark, highlighted by LBSU's 2019 Big West Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. It was the first time LBSU won its conference title since 2015.
 
"First of all, I'd like to thank Doug Gillin, John Welch, Makini Thompson and the entire search committee for all their hard work," Antal said. "I'm incredibly excited for this opportunity to come back to North Carolina and to continue cultivating App State's tradition of excellence on the court and in the classroom. I'm looking forward to getting to work, and I'm looking forward to building a program to new heights while engaging our community in Boone. I intend to lead this program with passion, drive and a growth mindset to ensure that we are a force in the Sun Belt."
 
In 2019 during the Beach's 17-6 campaign, she coached five All-Big West selections and Freshman of the Year, Wiktoria Rutkowska.
 
Antal showed her ability to recruit top talent, as LBSU boasted the eighth-best recruiting class in 2020 among mid-major programs according to Tennis Recruiting Network. The 2020 signing class was first in the conference and third in Southern California among mid-majors.
 
Before Long Beach State, Antal put forth a stellar playing career at national powerhouse Vanderbilt. She played a pivotal role in the Commodores' first national championship in 2015, as well as the 2015 SEC title. She was a four-year starter and a two-year captain while achieving a career-high ranking of No. 9 in doubles and No. 101 in singles. She reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA doubles tournament and was named an NCAA Doubles All-American her senior season. 
 
She finished with 204 total singles and doubles wins with 19 nationally ranked wins. She won at least 20 singles and doubles contests every season, including a career-high 35 doubles and 28 singles wins her senior year. Her milestone 100th career singles win was key as she posted the first Commodores point in their 4-2 win over UCLA in the national championship match.
 
Antal graduated from Vanderbilt with a double major in psychology and English with a concentration in creative writing. She earned four SEC Academic Honor Roll awards and was a 2015 ITA National Academic Award winner. 
 
In addition to her studies, Antal co-authored a Journal of Clinical Psychiatry published study on the treatment of mood and cognitive symptoms in late-life depression.
 
Outside the classroom, Antal co-founded the Vanderbilt Undergrad Raising Autism Awareness program during her freshman year.
 
A native of Wilmington, N.C., Antal was a five-star high school recruit and nationally ranked No. 30 in her graduating class.
 
What They're Saying About Antal
 
"I applaud Appalachian State for hiring Ashleigh Antal. She was one of the most impactful tennis players in Vanderbilt history. Just as she led her team as a player to both the SEC and NCAA titles, Ashleigh will roll up her sleeves and get to working and teaching her players how to win the right way; with class, grace and also a gritty toughness."
Geoff McDonald (Former Vanderbilt Head Coach)

"I'm so excited and proud of Ashleigh for becoming the head coach at App State. The program is getting one of the exciting young coaches in the country. She is more than ready to have her own program and take App State to the next level"
Jon Ingham (Director of Tennis in Wilmington, N.C.)