Meet the Coach

Head coach Mandee Craft is entering her seventh year as coach for the Golden Tornadoes and for the first time in her career will be bringing her team off of a winning season. Craft guided Geneva to a 7-5 mark in 2007, which was the first season as a member of NCAA Division III and the Presidents' Athletic Conference.

 Craft began playing tennis in junior high, and worked her way in the #1 position at St. Clairsville High School in Ohio. She also placed in numerous tournaments in the Ohio Valley during her high school years.

Craft joined the Geneva tennis team in 1997 and excelled in both singles and doubles, earning numerous All-Conference awards in both. During her freshman season, Craft helped lead the Golden Tornadoes to their most recent trip to the NAIA nationals.

While playing under head coach Janet DiTullio, Craft began to see how she might use her love of tennis as an avenue of Christian service. In her final season as a player, she became the head coach of Quigley Catholic High School's girls' tennis program. 

Upon her graduation from Geneva ('01 B.S.-Psychology), she gratefully accepted the coaching position vacated by DiTullio. From playing at Geneva, Craft had learned that her ability and love for tennis could be used for God, and she was excited to be able to impart that same mindset to a new generation of Geneva athletes.

In that vein, the Geneva team has since participated in such activities as Habitat for Humanity, inner city tennis clinics and team Bible studies.

Further, in Craft's fourth year as coach ('05), the team returned to post-season play for the first time since the 1998 campaign and returned to the play-offs last spring.  

Aside from her coaching duties at the college, Craft also remains active in the tennis community by serving as Vice President of the Beaver Valley Tennis Association, and is certified through the United States Professional Tennis Registry.

Contact Coach Craft by email at mandee_craft@hotmail.com.