Former Husky Denise Dy Named Assistant Coach
June 07, 2016 | Women's Tennis
SEATTLE – Former Husky and All-American Denise Dy has been named the new assistant coach of the women's tennis team at the University of Washington, announced by head coach Robin Stephenson today.
“I'm thrilled to be a part of the Husky family and want to thank Robin Stephenson, Shondell Reed and the Administration for the opportunity to coach at my Alma mater,” said Dy. “We have a very talented young group of student-athletes and an exciting recruiting class coming in. I'm looking forward to working with the team and help Robin build the program.”
Dy returns to Seattle after spending the past two seasons at the University of Iowa as an assistant coach. This past season, she helped guide sophomores Zoe Douglas and Anastasia Reimchen to a final doubles ranking of 88th in the country after peaking at No. 49. They're biggest win of the season came against Miho Kawase and Anna Sanford of Ohio State who were ranked third nationally.
After graduating in 2012, she spent time working at a variety of high performance tennis clubs, while continuing her playing career on the Philippine National Team. She brings an immense amount of international experience and success to the program having won a mixed doubles gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games in 2015 and 2011, as well as a silver in doubles and bronze in singles at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games.
The San Jose, Calif. native burst onto the scene with the Huskies as a freshman, as she was named honorable mention on the all-conference team and tied the school record for most doubles wins in a single season with 26. The following season Dy qualified for the NCAA Championship in both singles and doubles and earned her first ITA All-American honor in singles. She was ranked as high as No. 3 in the country, the second-highest ranking in UW history, and reached the semifinals at the ITA National Indoor Championships in the fall.
After one of the best seasons in Washington history, she followed that up in 2011 by earning All-American honors in both singles and doubles. In the fall she reached the semifinals of the ITA All-American Championships, and followed that up with a quarterfinal run at the ITA National Indoor Championships. She became just the fifth Husky to reach 30 singles wins in a season, going 30-8 overall and was selected to the All-Pac-12 First Team. She grabbed 22 wins in doubles her junior season and was ranked as high as No. 6 paired with Venise Chan. The duo began the season 13-0 and went on to reach the quarterfinals at the 2011 NCAA Doubles Championships.
As a senior she finished off one of the greatest careers at Washington bringing her total wins in singles to 98 and 78 in doubles, both good for fourth in school history. Winner of the 2012 Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship, she capped off a historic streak to end her career as she ranked in the ITA top-25 in every singles poll since January of her sophomore season.
During her career as a Husky she helped the team reach the Round of 16 at the 2009 NCAA Championships, and the second round the following two seasons. She also became the first Husky to reach the semifinals of three national tournaments, as she made the ITA National Indoor Championships semis in 2009 and 2011, and the ITA All-American Championships semis in 2010.
“I am thrilled to be able to bring Denise back to Seattle to be a Husky once again,” said Stephenson. “She made a tremendous impact on the program as a player and I have no doubt that her impact as a coach will be even greater. Denise has so much passion for UW and it is apparent how much energy and commitment she will bring to the program and I know that she will be able to impact the lives of our players on and off the court in a positive way. She is joining the program during a very exciting time and I can't wait to get started.”
Dy graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a minor in Military Science. She is also affiliated with the Professional Tennis Registry and has earned her Professional Level 1 Certification as well as her USTA High Performance certification.
