Bronx, N.Y. (January 12, 2015) - Mike Sowter, former head men's and women's tennis coach at NJIT, was named head men's tennis coach at Fordham University it was announced today by director of athletics Dave Roach.
As the head men's and women's tennis coach at NJIT from 2008-2014, Sowter helped establish both Highlander programs as consistent winners, a fact that was underlined when the women's team captured the 2011 Great West Conference championship, becoming the first team from NJIT to capture a Division I conference title in any sport.
In 2012-13, the NJIT men's team went 16-6 record, the second highest win total at the Division I level with freshman Markus Schultz finishing the year ranked 18th in the NCAA Division I Northeast Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). He was the first NJIT tennis player to achieve season-end regional ranking from the ITA since the Highlanders began NCAA Division I competition in 2006-07.
The women's team finished with a 15-6 overall record and went 3-0 at the National Invitation Tennis Tournament in 2012-13. Senior Monika Graff was named 2013 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regional winner of the Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship for the second consecutive season. The two-time Northeast Regional winner of the Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship is also a three-time Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete and recognized earlier this year by New Jersey Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women "Woman of the Year" award.
The NJIT women's tennis team repeated as Great West Conference Champions in 2012, becoming the first NJIT team to win back-to-back conference championships in the program's sixth season competing at the Division I level under Sowter. The Highlanders finished with a school-record 21 wins (2011-12), the best ever for a program.
In 2010-11, Sowter was named Great West Conference Coach of the Year for women's tennis and with freshman Ksenia Kuzmenko earning Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors in the conference.
At NJIT, both the men's and women's programs were honored as an All-Academic Team by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (team cumulative GPA of 3.20 or higher) each year Sowter served as head coach. In 2010-11, ten individual NJIT tennis players (six women and four men) received ITA scholar-athlete honors (minimum cumulative GPA of 3.50 and at least two semesters).
Sowter arrived at NJIT after serving as head coach of the men's and women's tennis teams at Hofstra University the previous two seasons. He led the women's team to a 14-10 overall record in 2007-08, while also directing the men's squad to an 11-11-1 mark. Both records represented substantial improvements over the previous seasons, as the women's wins total jumped from three to 14 and the men improved from seven wins to 11.
A native of Perth, Australia, Sowter was a junior college all-American at Wallace State in Alabama, before transferring to NCAA Division I Marist, where he was a two-time all-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference honoree and a two-time NCAA Tournament participant.
Following his graduation from Marist in 2002, he coached at the small college level for two years with Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, compiling a 20-9 record and garnering Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2003.
He returned to his alma mater as assistant women's coach in 2004-05 and helped Marist post a 14-4 overall record, including a perfect 7-0 conference regular season mark.
He resides in Port Chester, NY, with his wife, Monika, and their son, Tristan.
