Olga Elkin - Women's Tennis Coach - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Olga Elkin

Title:
Head Tennis Coach
Email:
oelkin@bgsu.edu
Phone:
419-372-6022

Olga Elkin is in her first season at the helm of the Bowling Green State University tennis program. Director of Athletics D. Christopher Kingston announced Elkin's hiring on August 18, 2014.

"I would like to thank Chris Kingston and the entire search committee for this incredible opportunity," said Elkin. "It's a huge honor to have been chosen to lead a program that has such a rich history and tremendous potential, and I'm extremely excited to be joining the Bowling Green family."

Elkin came to Northwest Ohio after two highly-successful seasons as head women's tennis coach at Murray State University. She led the Racers to a 17-3 record in Ohio Valley Conference matches during that time. In her first season at the helm, MSU finished with an 8-2 conference mark, the program's best OVC record since the 2006-07 season. Then, last year, the Racers posted a 9-1 league ledger, won the OVC regular-season and tournament titles, and advanced to the NCAA Championships. MSU was 16-6 overall in 2013-14, and Elkin was named OVC Coach of the Year.

The regular-season title was the program's first since 2003, and the conference tournament championship was MSU's first since 2007.

"I want to thank Jim Elsasser (chair) and the rest of the search committee for identifying such a strong pool of candidates, where Olga rose to the top," said Kingston. "Olga is a winner and a champion, and she has achieved the success we expect to achieve at BGSU. She knows how to prepare her teams for academic and competitive greatness, and we are thrilled to have her join Falcon Athletics."

Elkin's first season at MSU saw the Racers post an overall record of 11-9 and that 8-2 conference record, earning the No. 3 seed for the OVC Championships. MSU had one student-athlete named to the All-OVC First Team and two selections on the all-conference second team. In her second year at the helm, Elkin again saw three student-athletes named to the all-league team, with one first-team and a pair of second-team selections. Additionally, highlights of the 2013-14 campaign included the first nationally-ranked player (freshman Eleonore Tchakarova) in program history.

In the classroom, Elkin's team had the school's highest year-end grade-point average, with the Racer tennis team earning a combined GPA of 3.64 in the 2013-14 academic year.

In addition to earning OVC Coach-of-the-Year honors in 2013-14, Elkin was voted Murray State's C-O-Y.

Prior to MSU, Elkin spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Kennesaw State University, a period which included a brief stint as interim head coach during the 2010-11 season. Elkin helped the Owls to the best season in program history that year, as the team recorded the most overall wins (18) and conference victories (seven) in program annals. KSU had the first conference freshman of the year as well as the first nationally-ranked player in school history during her two-year stint. The Owls had a total of seven All-Atlantic Sun Conference honorees during those two seasons.

A native of Omaha, Neb., Elkin was a collegiate tennis standout, beginning her career at Wichita State University (2006-08) before transferring to West Virginia University (2008-10). She was a Missouri Valley Conference singles champion at WSU, and led the Shockers to a ranking of No. 16 in the nation. Elkin and WSU captured the MVC regular-season and tournament titles in 2007. Elkin played at the No. 1 singles flight at West Virginia, and was named a Big East Conference Academic All-Star in each of her two years. She made the honor roll in each year at both WSU and WVU.

"I would like to congratulate Coach Penny Dean on an outstanding 24-year career at Bowling Green," said Elkin. "Her accomplishments and contribution to the Bowling Green women's tennis program cannot be understated."

In addition to her time at Kennesaw State and Murray State, Elkin's coaching experience also includes coaching at the Nebraska Tennis Academy in Lincoln, Neb., in the summers of 2007-09, as well as serving as the Director of Tennis at Camp Micah in Bridgeton, Maine, in the summers of 2011-14.

Elkin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in sport management from WVU in 2010. She earned a Master of Science degree in sports administration from Georgia State University in 2012.