DES MOINES, Iowa – Drake University head men's tennis coach Davidson Kozlowski and head women's tennis coach Mai-Ly Tran have announced the hiring of Alex Emery as assistant coach to both programs.
 
"I am very excited to have Alex join us as an assistant coach. I believe his experience and knowledge for the game will help Drake tennis reach new heights," said Tran. 
 
Emery spent last year as an assistant coach for the men's program at the University of Arizona. He helped bring in the 18th ranked recruiting class by TennisRecruiting.com for the 2018 season to Tucson.
 
"We are absolutely thrilled to have Alex return and join our staff full-time. I have known Alex for over 10 years. He played for me while I coaching at UAB and was one the most accomplished players in UAB history. Alex was an extremely intelligent player and one of his true strengths is his ability to breakdown a player's game and tendencies. He's definitely going to be able to get the most out of our player's talent and give them a mental edge," said Kozlowski.  

Prior to coaching at Arizona, Emery spent two years as the volunteer assistant coach for Wake Forest. During his time in Winston-Salem, the Demon Deacons had a combined record of 55-14 with two appearances in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Tournament and one ACC title.
 
In his first season on the Demon Deacons staff in 2014-15 season, he helped the Wake Forest to a school-record 24 wins and the program's third appearance in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Tournament. He helped coach Noah Rubin, who earned the ITA National Rookie of the Year, ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Player of the Year. Rubin went on to advance all the way to the NCAA Singles Championship.
 
In his final year at Wake Forest, the Demon Deacons broke their school record with 31 victories while winning the first ACC Championship in school history, as well as advancing to the Round of 16 once again. He coached Skander Mansouri to All-America honors in both singles and doubles for just the third time in school history. Mansouri also earned All-ACC honors and finished the season ranked No. 14 in singles and ninth in doubles.
 
Emery is very familiar to Drake as he was a volunteer assistant coach during the 2014 season. In that one season, he helped the Bulldogs to Missouri Valley regular season and tournament titles. At one point, Drake was ranked as high as 30th in the country. He also coached three student-athletes to the NCAA Championships, one singles player and two doubles players.
 
Emery played his collegiate tennis at UAB, under Kozlowski. He was ranked in the top-30 in doubles by the ITA during his junior and senior campaigns and led the Conference USA with 31 singles wins during his freshman season. Emery graduated from UAB with a degree in psychology.