Sara O'Leary and Andres Pedroso, Virginia Cavaliers tennis — Photos courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

Virginia Tennis Extends Andres Pedroso and Sara O'Leary Through 2027

Both the UVA men's and women's tennis coaches signed contract extensions to remain in Charlottesville through the 2027 season

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Mar 30, 2022 10:32 PM EDT

This has been quite the busy week for Virginia director of athletics Carla Williams.

After locking Lars Tiffany into a contract extension to remain the UVA men's lacrosse head coach through 2026 on Monday, Williams negotiated contract extensions for Virginia women's tennis head coach Sara O'Leary on Tuesday and men's tennis head coach Andres Pedroso on Wednesday. Both coaches agreed to five-year contract extensions through the 2027 season.

Since becoming the head coach of UVA women's tennis program that was unranked at the time in 2017, O'Leary has led the Cavaliers to NCAA Tournament appearances in each of her four seasons in Charlottesville. O'Leary was responsible for recruiting and coaching Emma Navarro, who won the 2021 NCAA Single Championship. Navarro and Natasha Subhash won back-to-back ITA National Freshman of the Year awards. Seven Cavaliers have earned All-America honors in O'Leary's time at UVA.

“Since Sara joined our staff in 2017, she has done a remarkable job of advancing our women’s tennis program,” Carla Williams said. “She has great energy and is a tremendous competitor which translates to our players on the court. Her ability to attract and develop talented players in an amazing team environment has contributed to Virginia being one of the nation’s top programs. We are fortunate to be able to make this announcement that will keep Sara as part of our tennis program for years to come.”

Pedroso, who is in his fifth season as the director of the Virginia tennis program, was named the ACC Men's Tennis Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2021 as well as the ITA Atlantic Region Head Coach of the Year in 2021 after leading the Cavaliers from an unranked preseason status to a national No. 3 ranking. UVA ended up winning both the ACC regular season and tournament titles last season. Virginia has been a top-10 team in each of the last four seasons.

“Andres has done an outstanding job in his dual role as the director of our tennis programs and the men’s head coach,” Williams said. “He was instrumental in the addition of our new outdoor Tennis Complex at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, guided our team to last year’s ACC Championship and continues to attract some of the top amateur players in the world to attend UVA. His student-athletes have been outstanding ambassadors for our University and have been equally remarkable in their academic pursuits. Andres brings great leadership to our tennis programs and we are excited to announce a long-term commitment for him to continue to advance Virginia tennis.”

This season, Virginia men's tennis is currently ranked No. 11 in the country, is 14-5 overall, and sits atop the ACC standings with a perfect 8-0 conference record. The Cavaliers take on No. 12 Kentucky on Thursday evening in Lexington.

UVA women's tennis is ranked No. 15 with a record of 13-4 and 5-3 in ACC play. Virginia plays at Virginia Tech on Saturday at 12pm.

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