Nikki Walbright is the women’s tennis head coach. Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department

Chargers Women’s Tennis hired Nikki Walbright as head coach and senior Melanie Zampardo as assistant coach over the summer. 

Former head coach Liam Fraboulet left the Charger’s Tennis program this summer to pursue a business opportunity in the Upper Peninsula, according to Hillsdale College Athletic Director John Tharp. 

Walbright saw to the reinstatement of the women’s tennis program in 2010 after it was inactive since 2004, according to the Chargers’ Director of Athletic Communications James Gensterblum. In 2012, she won the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year award. She then led the team to two Great Midwest Athletic Conference titles in 2018 and 2019. In both those years, she received the G-MAC Coach of the Year, 

Walbright is looking forward to her return in the upcoming season. 

“I’m really excited to be back with the team, really looking forward to working with them again,” Walbright said. “I think we have very strong leadership with our seniors and our new freshmen are going to add a lot to our lineup.”

Walbright stepped down as head coach after the 2021-22 season to become Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman’s Administrator. 

Tharp said appointing Walbright as head coach was an easy decision within his department.

“Coach Walbright is a veteran and one of the best tennis coaches around,” Tharp said. “She had taken a break from coaching because she has a young family, but Nikki has stepped up and says she is ready.”

Zampardo joins the coaching staff as a former Hillsdale College tennis player and a fifth-year student pursuing a degree in exercise science. She transferred to Hillsdale after spending her freshman year at Wayne State University in Detroit. During her time as a Charger, Zampardo achieved three second-team All-G-MAC awards. 

“I’m excited to put my development and progress on the shelf and be able to help other people,” Zampardo said. “To both have that objective eye and also help them on an emotional level, because I can relate to them. I was just there last year.”

Tharp said he believes Zampardo can build strong relationships with her players as a younger coach and an accomplished athlete, and can use her position as a coach to teach younger players what it means to be a Charger. 

“She’s represented us so well over the years,” Tharp said. “I think she’s incredibly competitive and understands what Hillsdale College is. She believes in what we believe in. I think she’s going to bring young energy and build relationships with our new players.”