For years now the Old Gold & Black has featured Wake’s finest athletes in this spot, putting them “In the Spotlight.” In doing so, we have overlooked the people that play the biggest roles in their lives here on campus: the coaches. Wake Forest athletics have fostered a family atmosphere and the coaches are at the heart of that community. The large majority of the coaches have been here for a number of years and have been instrumental in the program’s rise to national prominence. Now it is Chad Skorupka’s  time to shine “In the Spotlight.”

Chad Skorupka, the women’s tennis coach, is in his fourth year at the helm of the Deacs program. When he took over after a stint at Yale the team hadn’t had a winning season in three years. He turned things around with a 14-10 record in 2006 and a 15-8 season and a winning ACC record of 7-4 in 2007.

Despite a team riddled by injuries last season, Skorupka extended the Deac’s streak of NCAA tournament appearances to three. There were several occasions where Skorupka could not fill all of the positions in a match. This is not Skorupka’s first taste of success at Wake Forest. He was the program’s assistant coach from 1999-2001 when the team was ranked in the ITA’s Top 10 on a regular basis and had a record of 42-12.

In between his stints at Wake Forest Skorupka was the head coach of the Yale Bulldogs. Skorupka had a record of 58-24, including the 2002 fall ECAC Championship. He had 10 athletes named to the All-Ivy team in singles, including four pairs that earned the honor in doubles. He was also honored as the 2004 ITA?East Region Coach of the Year.

Before he was an assistant at Wake Forest, Skorupka served as the assistant women’s tennis coach at his alma mater, Penn State, for three seasons. Before entering the collegiate coaching ranks, Skorupka worked for the United States Tennis Association in Indianapolis, Ind.

As an undergraduate at Penn State, Skorupka was a four-year starter on the men’s tennis team and part of a doubles team that won the Rolex Region I title in 1993. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 12 in doubles in the fall of 1993.

You lost a few key seniors last year. Talk about this year’s group of seniors and what they need to do to step up and lead the team.

We have two seniors. We lost Christian Tara and Sierra Poske, two four year starters, good players, who were captains last year.But Sasha Kulikova is obviously our senior, and she is a captain along with our junior Emilee Malvehy. Aileen Davis is our other senior, but she is obviously playing field hockey this fall. She’ll be sliding over to tennis late in the fall and then in January. Sasha along with Emily are going to be great leaders. Sasha, being an all-ACC singles player last year, is phenomenal on the court. She just missed the NCAA singles tournament, which is really her ultimate goal along with the team continuing to make the tournament. Sasha has had a good three years and she wants to leave on a very positive note, so I think she’ll do great.

Can we expect to see any new freshman work their way into the lineup?

We have our German player Martina Pavelec back. She had to do a year in residence this past year due to eligibility issues so she will be eligible this year. She can play in the fall, but she has to sit out 12 matches and then she’ll be eligible for two and a half years after that. Kathryn Talbert from Moorseville, N.C, is a local player who was the state champion last year. She will be playing top six singles and top three doubles, so she’ll be sliding right into a starting position.

What are the team goals for the year?

We want to continue to make the NCAA tournament. We are really trying to set a little different tone as far as being in shape for the fall season. We’ve been a middle of the pack ACC school but still continuing to make the NCAA tournament, and that just shows you the depth of the ACC conference.  So it’s going to be a battle, but obviously we want to try to get out of that middle pack and get in that top half.

Who can we look to make a move into the NCAA tournament?

I think Martina and Sasha are going to be our two best players. We are going to play them together in the fall. We are hosting the regional tournament again, which is huge. It’s the second year here and then it’s going to UNC-Chapel Hill for two years and then back to us. We are hosting that again in October. The plan now is to play them together for the fall, see how it goes. But quite honestly we might have three new teams. I think I’m going to split up our two really, really good singles players and create a little bit more depth. Sasha might play three doubles; Martina might play three doubles. Who knows? It will be interesting.

What has been your most gratifying moment on the court?

Really it’s when you’re coaching a player and it’s in the third set and – whether we’ve won the match or lost the match – in getting that player through. There are a couple of occasions where you’re able to give them some insight and actually let them do the hardest part and that’s finishing a match. We’ve won some big matches and lost some big matches, but when you’re able to get a particular person through in the third set match, that’s really gratifying.

When you are recruiting an athlete to play at Wake Forest, what do you hammer home?

You know really it’s that family atmosphere with big league athletics. We hear it time and time again but really honestly we are able to, not only as coaches, but across the hall with the academic support center, have a more hands-on approach here. We all know about the 13-1 ratio between professors and students, but it is a hands on approach. Hey, some people need it and some people don’t mind the bigger school, but here I can guarantee you that they will be well looked after.

If you could spend an afternoon on the tennis court with anyone who would it be?

I would like to yell at Serena Williams. I can’t stand her right now. She is the most (self-absorbed person); she has no respect for anyone when she loses. I read an op-ed this summer and the author just said that Serena could do so much more than what she’s doing. She only likes to concentrate on the grand slams and that Serena can be an Oprah Winfrey, she can just do so much more than she does. It’s disheartening to see her after these matches sometimes. I’d be like, “what are you doing?”

What is your favorite restaurant in Winston-Salem?

I came from Yale and there were so much better restaurants in general. But it would probably have to be Ichiban.

What is your favorite vacation spot?

Phuket, Thailand. The beauty and the people are so genuinely nice.