College tennis: UTPB decides to add tennis program

Tennis will be coming back to UTPB.

Steve Aicinena, UTPB athletic director, said the school will have both a men’s and women’s team.

They will begin as club teams with a part-time coach for the 2010-11 school year and transition to an NCAA program with a full-time coach for the 2011-12 school year.

As the school has grown, more money has become available to expand the athletic department, Aicinena said.

Golf also was considered as a possible sport to be added, but Aicinena said there was a greater interest in tennis. Sixteen students have expressed interest in the new program, including former UTPB swimmer Matthew Smith.

The school originally had a women’s tennis program from 1972 through 1988.

Aicinena said the idea of adding golf will be revisited within five years.