Alabama State University Women's Tennis

Anuk Christiansz, who has been a part of seven national championship tennis teams and was a member of the Sri Lankan Davis Cup team, has led the Alabama State University men's and women's tennis programs back to the top of the Southwestern Athletic Conference since 2012.   He has helped the program claim a combined 12 SWAC men's and women's tennis tournament titles and six SWAC regular season titles during his ASU tenure. Christansz led teams have won seven SWAC Men's Tennis tournament titles and and five SWAC Women's tennis tournament titles The men's team has claimed four straight SWAC tournament and regular season championships while the women have won the last two SWAC regular season titles.  In 2019, Christiansz won both the men's and women's conference coach of the year awards while leading both teams to the SWAC Championships. He helped lead both teams to a regional tournament and finished the season undefeated in conference play. Two years ago, Christiansz led both teams to the conference titles, and helped lead the teams to regional tournaments. Both teams finished undefeated in both the regular season and tournament play, while placing multiple players on the all-conference and all-tournament teams. In only his fourth season, he has led the Hornets to the 2015 SWAC Championship, the first in the history of the program.  With that championship comes the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, which is also a first in the program. The men won a program-high 12 matches in 2015 and also finished with a 3-2 regular season conference record, which was the second consecutive season the Hornets finished with a better than .500 conference record, also a program-first. He led the women's program to another double-digit (10) win season in 2015, marking the first time in the history of the women's program the Lady Hornets had back-to-back 10+ win seasons. The Lady Hornets finished with a 4-3 conference record and once again made it to the semifinals of the SWAC tournament. Before coming back to his Alma Mater, Christiansz spent eight years at Auburn University Montgomery and was a part of seven national championships during his career with the Senators. He joined the AUM staff as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s programs in 2002, winning his first national title that season as the AUM men won the championship, while the women’s program finished the season as the national runners-up.   He took over both programs in 2003 and started a run which saw the men win four titles, including three consecutive (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008). He also won two national titles with the women’s program in 2004 and 2005.  AUM was a dual-national titlist in 2004, as both the men’s and women’s teams won titles.   He led the men’s program only from 2006-09, leading them to four consecutive national championship appearances as they finished runners-up in 2009. It was one of three times his teams finished second (2002 and 2003 women’s teams).   He had his program’s involved in the community as the program’s were involved in the Read Across America Program as well as being involved with The Metro Fitness Road Race each year helping raise funds for the Montgomery Food Bank.   He has also been involved at both the Arrowhead Golf and Country Club and at Wynlakes Golf and Country Club as the tennis professional.    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Represented the 1983 Sri Lanka National Team in Davis Cup Competition; Won six national championships has a head coach(Men: 2004, ‘06, ‘07, ‘08; Women: 2004, ’05) and one as an assistant (Men: 2002); Has a .906 career winning percentage (204-21 overall record; 59-2 women’s record; 145-19 men’s record); Is a seven-time NAIA National Coach of the Year(Men: 2004, ’06 ,’07, ’08; Women: 2004, ’05, ’06); Won five regional titles (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009-men; 2005-women) and six conference titles (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009-men 2005-women); Has coached 31 All-American players (22 men, including two National Players of the Year; nine women); Teams had the highest team GPA at Auburn-Montgomery (2006-08) and a achieved 100 percent graduation rate; Led ASU to a SWAC Men's Title in 2015, the first in the program's history; Named the 2015 SWAC Men's Coach of the Year. MEN'S TENNIS (at Alabama State) Year    Overall Record Post    Conf Record Finish 2012 6-11 - 3-4 - 2013 6-13 - 2-3 - 2014 8-13 - 3-2 - 2015 12-16 NCAA 1st 3-2 1st 2016 7-10 - 4-1 - 2017 9-12 - 7-0 1st 2018 12-9 NCAA 1st 6-0 1st 2019 12-10 NCAA 1st 6-0 1st 2020 4-6 - 3-0 - Nine seasons 76-100 - 37-12 - at Alabama State 76-100 37-12 WOMEN'S TENNIS (at Alabama State) Year    Overall Record Post    Conf Record Finish 2012 1-12 - 1-4 - 2013 4-16 - 2-3 - 2014 11-14 - 3-4 2nd 2015 10-11 - 4-3 2nd 2016 13-8 - 7-0 - 2017 13-9 NCAA 1st 9-0 1st 2018 12-9 NCAA 1st 8-0 1st 2019 13-9 NCAA 1st 8-0 1st 2020 5-5 - 4-0 - Nine seasons 82-93 - 46-14 - at Alabama State 82-93 46-14  

Richard Seman joined the Alabama State University staff as assistant tennis coach in October 2011 and was elevated to Associate Head Coach in 2022. Sseman has helped the program claim a combined 12 SWAC men's and women's tournament titles and six SWAC men's and women's regular season titles during his ASU tenure. Seman led teams have won seven SWAC Men's Tennis tournament titles and and five SWAC Women's tennis tournament titles The men's team has claimed four straight SWAC tournament and regular season championships while the women have won the last two SWAC regular season titles.  Richard was born in New York but moved to the South of France at an early age. Despite moves to Orlando, Florida and Montreal, Canada he was able to continue his tennis training. By playing club tennis he was able to play at one of the highest levels. Richard started to teach and coach during the summer of 1990. He joined the United States Air Force in 1994 and spent 7 years in the military. Upon separating from the Air Force, Richard went back into teaching tennis in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. With 29 years of teaching and coaching experience in France, Canada and the United States, Coach Seman has an international background in tennis. Seman moved to Montgomery with his wife Christine who is now retired from the U.S. Air Force and was assigned to Maxwell AFB. ACCOMPLISHMENTS District President for the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA), Florida Section. 2004 USTA/USPTA Florida Volunteer of the Year Award USTA Florida 2003 Clinician of the Year Award