SAN ANTONIO -- Former Missouri standout Kelli Ritchie has been added as an assistant coach for UTSA women's tennis, it was announced by head coach Ki Kroll.
"I'm so happy to be welcoming Kelli into the Roadrunner Family," Kroll said. "Not only does she bring an array of playing experience her strong work ethic and commitment to team fits right into our team philosophy. I couldn't be more excited to work with her."
Ritchie joins the UTSA coaching staff after spending the 2017 and 2018 seasons as the volunteer assistant coach at Liberty and the 2016 season as the volunteer assistant at her alma mater.
"I am beyond thankful to Coach Kroll and UTSA for giving me this opportunity to be a part of the Roadrunner family," Ritchie said. "I am excited to partner with Coach Kroll in the future success and growth of this program on and off court. My college coaches were very influential in my life, and I hope to have that positive impact here at UTSA. I can't wait to start off this year strong and start working with our student-athletes."
After starting her career at Texas Tech, Ritchie – a native of New Braunfels, Texas – competed for three years at Missouri. She won 110 matches in her career, including 59 singles victories. Nationally, she soared as high as No. 89 in singles and No. 46 in doubles competition in the ITA rankings.
Ritchie was recognized on the SEC Academic Honor Roll in spring 2014 and received the 2015 ITA Central Region Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship. She was also part of two Missouri teams that were recognized as SEC Women's Tennis Community Service Team.
As a volunteer assistant during the Tigers' 2016-17 campaign, Ritchie helped guide Missouri to victories over No. 17 Texas A&M and No. 33 Alabama. In her one year assisting with Missouri, the squad featured one All-SEC selection (Bea Machado Santos) and had one doubles pairing (Santos and Amina Ismail) compete at the 2017 NCAA Doubles Tournament.
Ritchie graduated from Missouri in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in exercise physiology and nutrition.
- UTSA -
