Lilia Osterloh joined the Harvard women's tennis coaching staffin the summer of 2013.
In her first season with the Crimson, Osterloh helped Harvard toan 11-8 overall record and 3-4 ledger against Ivy foes to finishfifth in the league. Harvard upset three ranked opponents includinga 4-3 win over then-No. 11 Clemson Feb. 21, which represnts thefirst victory over a top-15 ranked opponent in the Traci Green era.Freshman Spencer Liang, who played exclusively as the Crimson's acein her first campaign in Cambridge, garnered All-Ivy second teamhonors.
Osterloh brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Harvard,thanks to a celebrated collegiate career and ensuing professionaltenure. The Columbus, Ohio native enrolled at Stanford in the fallof 1996 and led her team to the 1997 NCAA title. She also claimedthe singles title that same year and qualified for the main draw ofthe 1996 U.S. Open, advancing to the second round of thetournament.
She quickly made the leap to professional tennis, joining theWTA tour in the fall of 1997 and advancing to the third round ofthe U.S. Open in her professional debut. She would go on to climbas high as No. 41 in the world in the WTA rankings in 2001,advancing to the final 16 at both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. Shewas also ranked as high as No. 72 in the WTA doubles rankings in2008. She has three International Tennis Federation (ITF) singlestitles to her credit (Pittsburgh, Pa. (2005), Waikoloa, Hawaii(2006) and Monzon, Spain (2007)) and three WTA doubles crowns(Shanghai, China (2000), Auckland, New Zealand (2007) and Osaka,Japan (2010)).
Her coaching tenure began in January 2011 at the Kim GrantTennis Academy in Palo Alto, Calif., and she signed on as avolunteer assistant coach with the Stanford women’s team forthe 2012-13 season. She has also held positions with the BINGNursery School for Children at Stanford, JYKER LLC and helped loglive scheduled televised matches for the 2012 U.S. Open forESPN.
Osterloh was inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Famein November 2010 and completed her Bachelor of Arts degree ininternational relations in June of 2013.
