Lauren Conching enters her tenth season as the head women’s tennis coach and fifth year serving as Assistant Athletic Director at Hawai‘i Pacific University. She holds a record of 160-49 (.765) with eight trips to the NCAA National Championships, including five semifinal appearances and two quarterfinal berths. Conching has been twice named the ITA/Wilson National Coach of the Year (2013, 2018), ITA West Region Coach of the Year (2013, 2018) and PacWest Conference Coach of the Year (2013, 2018).
In the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, the Sharks made the finals of the inaugural ITA Indoor National Championships, which featured the top eight teams in the country. En route to the finals, the Sharks took down No. 3 Indianapolis 4-3 and No. 4 Columbus State 4-3, before falling to No. 1 Barry. In addition to making the championship match, the Sharks earned the Team Sportsmanship award for the event. The Sharks finished the 2020 season ranked fourth in the country and first in the West Region. Individual accolades for the Sharks include Elodie Busson receiving All-America honors, and HPU’s top doubles team Mihoki Miyahara and Marleen Tilgner finishing the season as the top doubles team in the West Region. Miyahara was named the ITA’s West Region Player to Watch.
She directed the Sharks to a 15-6 campaign in 2019, with five fresh faces in the starting lineup. HPU won its second consecutive PacWest Championship with a 4-1 win over Academy of Art in the championship match, then downed ART U again in the NCAA West Regional. HPU was the fifth seed in the NCAA Championships, defeating No. 19 St. Edward’s in the round of 16, before falling to eventual runner up No. 4 Columbus State 4-2 in the quarterfinals. Elodie Busson, the PacWest Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, joined Elisa Elhadj as All-Americans.
In 2018, the Sharks posted a 21-3 record on the way to HPU’s first PacWest Conference Championship and the fourth NCAA semifinal appearance in five seasons. The Sharks held Division II’s No. 1 ranking twice during the season. Conching was named the 2018 ITA Coach of the Year and the team finished the season ranked fourth after being upset in the semifinal match by West Florida 5-4. HPU’s top singles players, Lena Lutzeier and Lara Meccico, finished the season ranked first and second in the country and were both named ITA All-Americans. Meccico was named the ITA’s Most Improved Senior, Lutzeier was named the PacWest Player of the Year, PacWest Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the ITA Senior of the Year. She was also a nominee for the DII Honda Athlete of the Year Award. Oceane Adam received ITA All-America and Google Cloud Academic All-America honors as well.
Four of Conching’s teams have finished the season ranked in the top five nationally. She has had nine players named ITA All-Americans and two named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team. Lutzeier is the only player in women’s tennis history to finish the season ranked No.1 in the country, and Nicole Hoynaski and Meccico were both ranked No.2 in the country in their senior seasons. In addition, Hoynaski was a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Off the court, the HPU Women’s Tennis team has finished with the highest team GPA at HPU for six out of the last seven years.
Conching is also an Assistant Athletics Director for the Sharks and added the title of Senior Woman Administrator in 2018. She is in charge of apparel and branding for the department, marketing and promotional materials for the various athletics teams and assisting with multiple facets in the department.
Active within the coaching community, Conching is a member of the ITA Board of Directors and serves on several committees including NCAA Coaches Connection, the ITA West Regional Ranking Committee, the ITA West Regional Award Committee and the ITA Ethics Committee.
Prior to becoming head coach, Conching spent five seasons as the women’s assistant at HPU under Stefan Pampulov. In all five of those seasons, HPU reached the NCAA National Championships. In 2010, she was named the ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year.
Conching attended Collin County College in Plano, Texas, where she won the 2001 National Junior College doubles title and placed second at the NJCAA nationals with her team. In 2002, Conching transferred to Stony Brook University in New York where she finished her eligibility and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in English and Journalism. Upon graduation, she remained in New York and worked for CBS Sports until 2006, until she decided to return home to Hawai‘i. She is married to Hendrik Bode, the Hawai‘i Pacific head men’s tennis coach. The couple has a five-year old daughter, Lana.
CONCHING’S HEAD COACHING RECORD
| Year |
Record |
Final National Ranking |
Notes |
| 2012 |
18-6 |
No. 6 |
NCAA II Quarterfinalist |
| 2013 |
21-3 |
No. 4 |
NCAA II Semifinalist |
| 2014 |
20-7 |
No. 6 |
NCAA II Semifinalist |
| 2015 |
21-7 |
No. 11 |
NCAA II Sweet 16 |
| 2016 |
18-6 |
No. 4 |
NCAA II Semifinalist |
| 2017 |
16-6 |
No. 6 |
NCAA II Semifinalist |
| 2018 |
21-3 |
No. 4 |
PacWest Champion, NCAA II Semifinalist |
| 2019 |
15-6 |
No. 7 |
PacWest Champion, NCAA II Quarterfinalist |
| 2020* |
10-5 |
No. 4 |
ITA Indoor Runnerup, COVID-19 Canceled |
|
160-49 (.765) |
|
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