Hannah Grady, the best women’s tennis player in Long Beach State and Big West Conference history, will have the No. 1 court at the Rhodes Tennis Center named in her honor during a recognition ceremony prior to Long Beach State’s Feb. 27 tennis dual match against Pacific.
“Hannah is the best player in conference history and a true example of what a student-athlete should be,” said 49er head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello. “I was very excited for Hannah and our program when President Alexander informed me of his desire to `retire Hannah’s number.’ Since tennis players do not wear numbers for a traditional retirement ceremony, what better honor than to give the No. 1 women’s tennis player in school history the No. 1 court.”
Grady is the only Big West athlete in any sport to have been named the Big West Player of the Year for all four years of competition. She is the winningest player in Long Beach State history with 171 wins and reached highs in the rankings of No. 38 in singles and No. 31 in doubles. She is also the only 49er to qualify for the NCAA Individual Tournament multiple times, being invited in 2006 and 2008 in singles and in 2006 for doubles. Playing No. 1 singles for all four years of her collegiate career, Grady posted a 42-1 career record in Big West singles.
The 49ers won the Big West championship all four years during Grady’s career and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of those seasons. She led Long Beach State to its two highest rankings (No. 18 in 2006 and No. 25 in 2009) and the only postseason win for a Big West Conference team, when the 49ers defeated New Mexico in 2006.
The naming ceremony will be held in lieu of a jersey retirement due to the lack of numbers for tennis players. Grady becomes the 11th Long Beach State student-athlete to earn a post-career retirement recognition in the 60-year history of the university.
In addition to her on-court achievements, Grady was an outstanding student as well. She was just the 16th 49er to be named an Academic All-American and earned ITA National All-Academic honors while posting a 3.93 GPA in Political Science. She is continuing to study here at LBSU on course towards an MBA while serving as the tennis program’s assistant coach.
Alongside Hannah Grady Court, each of the seven Long Beach State Big West titles will now be recognized with championship banners at the Rhodes Tennis Center. An eighth banner honoring the tennis program’s six ITA National Team Academic awards will be included.
The 49ers begin their pursuit of a seventh consecutive Big West Championship and NCAA berth on Jan. 21, 2010 at No. 9 USC.
Reports From LBSU