Since taking over as the head coach in 2008, Larry Peterson has turned the IUP women’s tennis program into a stable force not only in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, but the Atlantic Region.
Serving as head coach of the program from 2008-2022, Peterson is the program’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 232-110 (.678), took IUP to nine straight Atlantic Region tournaments (2010-18), eight consecutive NCAA Division II Championship appearances (2011-18), and competed in the PSAC championships for nine straight seasons before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the spring 2020 season prematurely.
Peterson returns to the staff as a volunteer assistant for the 2023-24 season.
Under his direction, the Crimson Hawks won back-to-back Atlantic Region and PSAC Championships (2017, 2018). They're the first two in the history of the program. He boasts a division record of 41-10 (.804) over the last 10 seasons, and has an overall postseason record of 31-15 during that time - 17-7 in the PSAC tournament and 14-8 in the NCAA tournament.
He’s a five-time ITA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, winning his first after his 21-7 2010-11 season. Peterson has also been named the best coach in the region after the 2011-12, 2014-15, 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. He received PSAC West Coach of the Year honors in 2012 and 2018. He also was the recipient of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Middle States Coach of the Year Award and the Edwin J. Faulkner College Award as the Allegheny Mountain District Coach of the Year after the 2011-12 season.
Peterson has coached many individual on-court successes during his time at IUP, including 45 first or second team All-PSAC West selections, five PSAC West Freshmen of the Year, and back-to-back PSAC West Athlete of the Year, Tanya Timko. In addition to the conference awards, IUP women’s tennis athletes have also excelled at the regional level under Peterson, as he’s coached three ITA Seniors of the Year, three ITA Rookies of the Year, and boasts five straight IUP Player to Watch (top sophomore or junior) award winners from 2013-17.
The Crimson Hawks have shined in the classroom under Peterson, with 57 ITA Scholar Athlete awards earned since his first season. That includes a program record of seven after the 2019-20 season. Timko and von Agris have earned Capital One Academic All-America® honors, arguably the top academic/athlete honor at the collegiate level. IUP has also has five CoSIDA Academic All-District selections, four PSAC Champion Scholars, and three NCAA Elite 90 winners.
Although the 2019-20 season did not finish, Peterson still found success during the fall tournament portion of his schedule. Freshman Joanna Stralka became the second singles player in program history - first under Peterson - to win the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Slippery Rock senior Viola Lugmayr. The win capped a dominant tournament for Stralka, who won five consecutive straight-set matches.
Stralka was named the ITA's Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year and ended the year as the No. 2 ranked player in the region. Senior Katya Minchenkova was named the region's most improved senior and earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors with a 3.94 cumulative GPA.
The Crimson Hawks' 2018 season was their most dominant. For the first time in program history, IUP went undefeated in divisional play with a 6-0 record, outscoring its PSAC West opponents a combined 52-2 with five shutouts.
The Crimson Hawks won the program's first PSAC West regular season title, clinching a first round bye in the conference tournament. They moved on to the final site at Bloomsburg, defeating West Chester 5-0 in the semifinals before taking down rival Mercyhurst 5-0 to win their second straight conference championship.
IUP earned the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Region and defeating Charleston 5-2 for another regional title, advancing to the NCAA round of 16 for the eighth straight year.
The Crimson Hawks finished the year with a 20-6 overall record, including a program record 10 shutout victories (two in the postseason). They earned their highest national ranking ever, showing up at No. 24 in the ITA's February 21 release, and finished the season ranked in the top 40 in each of the last four releases.
Jarka Petercakova and Luise von Agris finished the season as the No. 50 doubles team in Division II, going 22-3 as a pairing during the spring season. They both earned first team All-PSAC West honors in singles and doubles, finishing their careers as two of the most decorated players in program history. Nicole Beidacki earned PSAC West Freshman of the Year honors and Katya Minchenkova joined her on the first (doubles) and second (singles) teams to give the Crimson Hawks their best season ever for PSAC honors.
For his efforts, Peterson was named the Atlantic Region Coach of the Year by the ITA for the second straight season, and the fifth time in the eight years (2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018).
In the spring of 2017, Peterson guided the Crimson Hawks to the program’s first ever PSAC Championship.
IUP put itself atop the lists of the best in the PSAC and region, defeating Mercyhurst 5-2 to win the 2017 PSAC Championship and earn the top seed in the Atlantic Region. The Crimson Hawks went on to blank West Virginia State to capture their first regional title and advance to the NCAA round of the 16 for the seventh straight season.
The Crimson Hawks finished the year with a 20-6 overall record, with a 5-1 mark in PSAC West play. They tallied nine shutout victories, including five straight at the end of the regular season and into the start of the PSAC tournament. IUP was ranked in the top 40 of Division II all year, reaching as high as 28th, the best ranking in program history.
Jarka Petercakova and Luise von Agris finished the year as the 18th-ranked doubles team in the country, and won the doubles title at the PSAC Individual Championships in the fall. Four total players earned All-PSAC West honors, while Raquel Gonzalez was named the Atlantic Region Senior of the Year, von Agris the Atlantic Region Player to Watch, and Peterson the Atlantic Region Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
The program also took home a slew of IUP Crimson & Gray Awards: Peterson was named the top women’s team coach, Petercakova and von Agris earned the top women’s performance of the year, and the Crimson Hawks were named the top women’s team.
Peterson took over an IUP program in 2008 that had won just four matches in the previous three seasons combined. He matched that win total in his first season before making an incredible 13-win improvement in his second year as the Crimson Hawks finished with a 17-9 overall record and an appearance in the NCAA Atlantic Regional Championships.
He took the Crimson Hawks up to the No. 2 ranking in the Atlantic Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on March 27 of 2011, a spot they relinquished only because they moved up to No. 1 on November 15, 2016.
That's a streak of 33 straight polls ranked either first or second in the Atlantic.
IUP was ranked in 37 of 45 ITA Division II national polls dating back to the 2010-11 season, achieving a high-ranking of No. 24 on February 21, 2018.
Peterson came to IUP from Bucknell University where he was an assistant coach for the Bison men's and women's tennis teams since August 2006. At Bucknell, Peterson coached nine All-Patriot League selections, the 2007 men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the 2007 women's Rookie of the Year as well as a total of 22 players who were named to the conference's academic honor roll.
Prior to his stint at Bucknell, Peterson was an assistant coach at State College (Pa.) High School. In three years, the boy's team had a record of 58-4 and made two trips to the final four of the PIAA state championship tournament. He has also served as the director of tennis for Penn State Summer Study and was the head tennis professional at the Toftrees Resort in State College.
Peterson is a USPTA certified tennis professional. He is a competitive tennis player and holds a singles record of 52-18 with 10 tournament titles since 2003. In 2006, he won the title at the Mid-Atlantic sectional championships, earning qualification to nationals. He also won the Virginia State and Washington, D.C., NTRP championships during 2006.
Peterson earned his bachelor's degree in economics from DePauw University in 1990 and a master's degree in the same field from Texas A&M in 1991. He completed coursework in a master's in photo-communications at Ohio University in 2000.
In addition to his tennis coaching and playing experience, Peterson has been a staff photographer at newspapers in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wyoming and taught English and economics in the Czech Republic. He is also an accomplished piano player, including a guest soloist appearance with the Richmond (Ind.) Symphony Orchestra.
