Women’s Tennis Brings On Assistant Coach Daniella Melendez
August 23, 2023 | Women's Tennis, Washington Athletics Staff Central
SEATTLE – Daniella Melendez will be joining the UW women's tennis coaching staff as an assistant this season, Head Coach Robin Stephenson announced earlier this week.
"I am beyond thankful to be a Husky and join the women's tennis team at UW," Melendez said. "Robin has been a mentor of mine for years and is one of the most highly respected coaches in college tennis. I am so thankful for the opportunity to partner with her and help our team grow every single day. Robin, along with Georgia, have built an incredibly successful program with strong values and a family-oriented culture. I have big shoes to fill, but I am looking forward to jumping right in and investing in our student-athletes. I am excited to get to know the girls and together with our incredible staff, start building towards our goals."
Melendez spent the 2022-23 season as an assistant coach at Harvard University. During her time in Cambridge, she helped the team to a season best No. 60 NCAA ranking – the highest team ranking since 2017.
She also guided Harvard freshman Charlotte Owensby to defeat the No. 7 singles player in the country and reach her highest ITA ranking of No. 75.
The team boasted 12 scholar-athletes during the 2022-23 season, tying for second best in the country with Columbia, Holy Cross and Ohio State – helping the team earn its 15th straight ITA All-Academic Team honor and 23rd overall.
Before her stint in the Ivy League, Melendez served as a volunteer assistant coach at Baylor from 2020 until 2022. The team peaked at a No. 7 ranking during the 2021 season, when Melendez also helped lead the team to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
During the 2022 season, her Baylor squad contained the No. 1 doubles team in the country with Melany Krywoj and Ali Herrero. For a second straight season, the Bears earned a trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament under the guidance of Melendez.
Welcome to Washington, Daniella! ??
— Washington Women's Tennis (@UW_WTennis) August 23, 2023
Women's Tennis Brings On Assistant Coach Daniella Melendez
>> https://t.co/9SxpJbTJKz#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/g9wIX09Y89
HEAD COACH THOUGHTS
"We are thrilled to have Dani join our staff and to see the impact that she will make on our student-athletes and everyone within our program," Coach Stephenson said. "She is someone that I have been very impressed with over the past few years and have kept a close eye on. Dani is extremely passionate about college coaching – her energy, work ethic, ambition and her desire to make an impact on others are the things that immediately stood out to me. It also became very clear to me right away that she shares the same values and vision that I do, and that this is a team and a place that she wants to be part of for all of the right reasons. We have a very special group and Dani will fit into our culture seamlessly. We have a lot to look forward to this season and we can't wait to get to work."
MELENDEZ'S PLAYING YEARS
Melendez is a 2017 graduate of Santa Clara University, where she was a member of the tennis team for four years.
As a senior, Melendez (then Silva) was named to the West Coast Conference All-Doubles Second Team with partner Madison Clarke. As a junior in 2015-16, she earned All-WCC Second Team honors in both singles and doubles, with partner Nabila Farah.
Upon graduating from Santa Clara with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science, Melendez played on the professional tour and won a professional doubles title.
Melendez is a dual citizen in Canada and Portugal, the latter of which she grew up and competed on the European Junior Circuit.
With family now living in Vancouver, British Columbia, she is excited to be soon residing in the Pacific Northwest and closer to loved ones.
Melendez has two sisters, Jessica and Stefanie, who played and currently play college tennis, respectfully.
She'll be heading west with her husband, Andrew Melendez, who was a cross country and track student-athlete at Santa Clara.
