University of Rhode Island

Val Villucci enters her 23rd season overall as a head coach at Rhode Island in 2021-22. It will be the third season of her third tenure as head coach of the Rams. 

Villucci returned to Rhode Island for her third stint as the head coach of the women's team in June of 2019. She came from Bethune-Cookman, where she had been the head coach for the men's and women's program's at Bethune-Cookman in Dayton Beach, Fla. since 2016.

In 2020-21, Villucci elevated the program to new heights. For the first time in program history, URI was ranked inside the Oracle ITA Top 100 ranking. The Rams cracked the top 100 in the week of April 13, and remained in the ranking for the remainder of the spring, reaching as high as No. 95. Villucci's squad finished the season 9-2 and reached the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship. During the season, Rhode Island had a nine-match winning streak.

Sophomore Nadia Rajan earned Atlantic 10 First Team All-Conference honors, while junior Erin Chriatian and redshirt senior Tiara Higuchi both were named to the second team. Chratian and redshirt senior Rachel Smilansky earned A-10 Academic All-Conference recognition.  

Villucci first was Rhode Island's head coach from 1993 through 2004 before coaching the men's team at URI from 2004-08. She returned to the women's program from 2009-15. While at URI, she secured private donations for the construction of URI's $500,000 tennis complex and $350,000 pavilion.

While at Bethune-Cookman, Villucci led the men's program to its first HBCU Men's National Championship in 2018 while helping both the men's and women's teams qualify for the MEAC Championship. On the women's side, she coached freshman Michelle Ncube to the 2019 MEAC Rookie of the Year. The Harare, Zimbabwe native was 10-3 in singles play and was unbeaten in league action, earning first-team all-conference recognition. It was the second straight MEAC Rookie of the Year for Villucci, who also had Rehaana Butt earn the award in 2018.

Villucci was the first full-time coach in program history at Rhode Island, and she is the primary person responsible for building the tennis program at Rhode Island in her 21 seasons as head coach. She had a run of nine consecutive seasons with at least one all-conference selection in her previous stint with the program. Off the court, the Rams earned the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for its Academic Progress Rate in back-to-back years in 2013 and 2014.

Updated 6/28/2021