Torrie Browning finished her fifth year with the Norfolk State men’s and women’s tennis programs in 2013-14. It also marked her first season as associate head coach for women’s tennis while serving as the assistant coach for the men’s team as well.
She was elevated to associate head coach in the summer of 2013. With the new title, Browning held more responsibilities with recruiting, scheduling, travel arrangements, practices and the budget for the women’s program.
The Spartan women finished with eight wins in 2014 and wrapped up their best three-year stretch in more than 10 years. NSU has won 28 matches during that time, including 10 wins in both 2012 and ’13, the most since the 2003 season. Its 10-8 mark in 2013 was NSU’s first winning season in five years.
Freshman Liza Gordeeva became NSU’s first all-conference player in five years in 2014 when she was named to the All-MEAC second team.
The women have also flexed their academic muscles during Browning’s tenure, finishing with the highest team GPA among all of NSU’s athletic programs during the last two years. They earned ITA All-Academic team honors the last four years, while Andrea Macchiavello was named the NSU Female Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2014 for having the highest GPA in the department.
Browning also assists head coach Nate Feldman with the men’s program, which has seen tremendous success the last few years.
The Spartans finished the 2014 season as the runner-up at the MEAC Championship, NSU’s first-ever title match appearance. That came a year after they shared first place in the MEAC Southern Division in 2013, also a first for the program.
NSU ended the 2014 campaign 14-7 overall, tied with the 2007 team for the most wins since at least 2002. The Spartans went 13-9 in 2013 and handed South Carolina State its first regular season conference loss in three years. Like the women, the men also recently wrapped up their best three-year stretch in more than 10 years, finishing with 40 wins from 2012-14.
Four players earned All-MEAC honors in 2014, highlighted by Player of the Year Dzmitry Zyhmantovich. He and Robin Riethmueller earned all-conference honors for the second year in a row. In addition, Peter Ramstromer-Pello and Daniel Grauel were also named to the All-MEAC team in 2014.
Igor Braga was voted the MEAC Rookie of the Year in 2012, while Zyhmantovich captured the award in 2013. Arsenio Culver earned first-team all-conference honors in 2012 for the third year in a row, and he and Ben Marks ranked ninth in the final ITA Atlantic Region doubles rankings.
In 2011, both tennis teams made strides from the previous year. The women qualified for the MEAC tournament for the first time since 2008, while Culver and Marks earned All-MEAC honors in singles. The men defeated Howard in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, the first of a current four-year stretch in which they have advanced to at least the semifinals.
Browning came to NSU after graduating in 2009 from Wichita State University, where she was a four-year letterwinner on the tennis team. She earned All-Missouri Valley Conference honors all four seasons and was also named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete first team as a senior.
During her collegiate career, Browning tallied a 100-54 singles record and went 57-41 in doubles matches. She posted winning singles records every season, including a career-best 27-9 mark as a senior. Browning had over 20 singles wins her freshman (24) and sophomore (22) years and posted double-digit doubles wins in her first three seasons.
Browning also excelled off the court, earning several academic and extracurricular honors. She made the Wichita State Athletics Director’s Honor Roll from 2005-09, was an ITA Scholar Athlete in 2009 and won the ITA Central Region Arthur Ashe Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership Award in 2008.
Browning was a member Wichita State’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative to the Missouri Valley Conference SAAC. She represented WSU at the 2007 NCAA Leadership Conference.
A native of Tucson, Ariz., Browning graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in integrated marketing communications and a minor in sociology. She resides in Virginia Beach.
