Christian Harris returns to the Elon Phoenix women's tennis coaching staff as a volunteer assistant for the 2021-22 season. Harris was previously an assistant coach for the program from 2018-2021.
Harris rounded out the 2020-21 season and his third year at Elon by helping lead the team to a 17-5 overall record and a berth to the CAA Tournament semifinals. Throughout the year, Elon picked up key wins over the likes of Appalachian State (4-3), Towson (7-0), UNCW (6-1), UNCG (5-2), and Charleston (4-3), while also defeating Campbell (5-2) and William & Mary (4-3) respectively for the first time in program history. Harris helped guide the Phoenix to a 12-2 record at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center and a 4-1 mark against CAA opponents. Elon also continued to excel in the classroom, finishing the 2020-21 academic year with a spring semester team GPA of 3.637 - the seventh consecutive semester in which the program had a team GPA above a 3.5. Additionally, four student-athletes earned all-conference honors, eight were named to the CAA Commisioners Honor Roll and seven earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors, while Olivia Archer was named the Carolina Region's Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship award winner.
In his second year with the team, Harris helped guide the Phoenix to a 13-4 overall record, including a nine match winning streak to end the season. Throughout the year, Elon earned impressive victories over the likes of Davidson (5-2), #48 East Carolina (4-3) and the defending CAA Champions James Madison (4-3) respectively. Harris aided head coach Elizabeth Anderson in leading the Phoenix to a 9-1 record at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center while picking up some key victories over Longwood (7-0) and UNCW (5-2) along the way. Elon continued to excel in the classroom during Harris's second season as well, finishing the 2019-20 academic year with a cumulative team GPA of 3.9.
During his first season in 2018-19, the Phoenix finished the year with a 13-12 mark and earned the No. 4 seed for the second consecutive season in the CAA Championships. Five Elon players, including three freshmen, earned All-CAA postseason honors, which included Maria Paraja, Olivia Archer, Alex Koniaev, Uma Nayar and Nicole Shiau. Elon nearly topped No. 1-seeded William & Mary in the 2019 CAA Championships hosted by Elon University, but the Tribe prevailed with a narrow 4-3 victory in the semifinals. Additionally, Suzanne Zenoni was named the Carolina region's Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship award winner and nine players were named CAA Commissioner's Academic award winners.
Harris joined the coaching staff after spending a year as an Academy Coach at Smith Stearns Tennis Academy in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Harris played tennis collegiately for Clemson University, where he was a four-year letterwinner, a team captain, and a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
While playing for the Clemson Tigers, Harris played primarily at the four, five and six singles positions while also playing at all three doubles spots during his four-year career. He also won the Division III Singles title at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships during his sophomore season. Harris was a top-50 recruit coming out of the junior level as he was ranked No. 50 by TennisRecruiting.net for the 2013 class.
Harris graduated from Clemson in 2017 with a bachelors degree in Political Science. He currently resides in Elon, N.C.
