Gardner-Webb University Men's Tennis

Griffith is entering his 15th year at the helm of the Runnin Bulldog mens tennis program in 2015-16, and has high hopes for his program going forward. Gardner-Webb posted a 10-13 mark in the 2014-15 season and went 3-5 in conference matches. GWU posted a 4-1 victory over Longwood in the Big South Tourney to advance to the Quarterfinals, where it fell 4-2 to eventual champion Coastal Carolina. Ernest Albrech, Nikita Zverkov, Korhan Ates, and Brendan Dempsey all earned Big South honors at the conclusion of the regular season. The Runnin Bulldogs, along with Will Haas, Nicholas Lofrumento, and Nikita Zverkov all were 2015 ITA Scholar-Athletes. As a team, GWU posted a 3.25 cumulative GPA, and were named to the 2015 All-Academic Team for a ninth-straight season.  The Runnin Bulldogs finished the 2013-2014 season with a 12-12 overall record and a 4-4 mark in Big South Conference record play, which included a regular season win over the 2014 Big South Champions Winthrop. At the conclusion of the season, Ernest Albrech and Brendan Dempsey earned postseason honors. Albrech was named to the All-Conference mens tennis singles list, while Dempsey was tabbed as the no. 4 flight champion for the league.  The Runnin Bulldogs were honored for their season by landing junior Ernest Albrech earning a spot the Big Souths All Conference Singles list as well as junior Brendan Dempsey earning the Big South Conference Flight Number 4 Title. Griffiths best two teams to date have been the 2009-10, when the Runnin Bulldogs finished with a 12-14 overall record in the Big South, and the 2007-08, team in which Griffith guided Gardner-Webb to a 13-14 overall campaign in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Griffith believes that this 2014-2015 team could be the best ever due to the depth the team has at both singles and doubles play. Griffiths top player in 2010, Evgeny Slesarev earned 2010 Big South Conference Mens Tennis Player of the Year honors, becoming the first GWU mens tennis player to earn such honors.  He was also named Player of the Week three times, while earning All-Conference honors in singles and doubles.  During his tenure at Gardner-Webb, Griffith has had 27 of his athletes named Intercollegiate Tennis Association Academic All Americans and has also seen both the mens and womens team be named as an ITA All-Academic Team twice during his time in Boiling Springs. GWUs mens team also won the ITA All-Academic Team award in 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2004. The prestigious award is given to teams with a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher and individuals with a GPA of 3.5 or higher while being a varsity letter winner.  In 2010, his mens tennis team was awarded the Big South Conference Team Sportsmanship Award. Bolstering his coaching pedigree further, Griffith completed the United States Tennis Association (USTA) High Performance Coaching Program. Along with his coaching resume, Griffith also boasts an accomplished tennis career.  While at Anderson Junior College, Griffiths team won the 1986 National Championship. After transferring to Winthrop, Griffith earned all-Big South Conference honors in 1987 and 1988. During summer months for the past 20 years, Griffith has been and is still very active in tennis camps and recruiting. Over the years he has worked at Navy, Princeton, Air Force, Wofford Lehigh, Clemson, Furman, William & Mary, Wofford and Alabama to name a few. Griffith takes pride in the 2006-07 freshman class, which was voted one of the top early signing classes of Division I schools by tennisrecruiting.net. The Greenwood, S.C., native earned his associate of arts degree from Anderson in 1986 and his bachelor of arts degree from Winthrop in 1988. Griffith and his wife, Donna, currently reside in Gastonia, N.C., where Donna is an elementary school teacher for Gaston County Schools. The couple has a twelve-year old son, Carson.