Longwood University Athletics

Charlotte Clarke is in her second season as Director of Tennis at Longwood in 2025-26 after being hired Aug. 23, 2024.

In her first season with the Lancers, Clarke helped the Longwood men's team to a 7-11 overall record, including going a 1-2 in the Big South. The Lancers advanced to the league semifinals, falling to UNC Asheville. Clarke guided graduate student Mauricio Gonzalez Paiva to Co-Big South Newcomer of the Year honors, marking the first time in Longwood men's and women's tennis history a student-athlete earned a major Big South year-end award.

Under Clarke's tutelage, four men's players were named to all-Big South -- Gonzalez Paiva (first-team doubles and second-team singles), junior Timéo Puech (first-team singles and doubles) classmate Alejandro Uribe and freshman Marko Mrdak (first-team doubles).

Longwood finished the season ranked 10th in the in the ITA Atlantic Region.

On the women's side, Clarke's Lancers were 7-12 overall. Longwood enjoyed a three-match winning streak and were victors in five of seven dual matches from Feb. 8 at Campbell to March 4 against Norfolk State. The win at the Camels was the first against the former Big South foe since at least 2007. 

Two doubles pairs -- Karina Rizvanova and Elizaveta Gnilozubova (first team) and Alexandra Magia and Feline van Eijkelenburg (second team) -- earned al-Big South honors.

Clarke helped three different men's players earn four Big South weekly honors on the season, while Magia was named Big South Freshman of the Week three times for the women's team.
 
Clarke, a native of Leicester, England, comes to Farmville following a rapid rise through the coaching ranks as an elite tennis coach. Most recently, she was the acting head coach and associate head coach of the nationally ranked men's and women's tennis teams at NCAA Division II Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, N.C.
 
"We are excited to welcome Charlotte Clarke to the Longwood family," Longwood director of athletics Tim Hall said upon Clarke's hire. "She is wise beyond her years and is a strong relationship builder. Her program goals, vision and philosophy are extremely well thought out and fit perfectly with in the Longwood athletics culture. I am confident she will do great things as our Director of Tennis."
 
Clarke took over as acting head coach for the final month of the 2022-23 season, overseeing a team that consisted of All-South Atlantic Conference second team singles player Evgeniya Pugina and All-SAC first team doubles pair Alicia Wahlberg and Lucy Whelan.
 
This past season, she helped the No. 28-ranked women's team to a 14-5 overall record, going 9-3 in the SAC. Clarke helped guide the Bears' No. 38 men's team to 10-7 overall mark and 7-5 in conference.
 
Clarke mentored four All-SAC women's players, in 2023-24, including SAC Freshman of the Year Runa Muderrisogluand two all-league men's players.
 
"I am thrilled to have been named as the new Director of Tennis at Longwood University," said Clarke "As soon as I stepped onto campus, I knew Longwood was a special and unique place with an administration dedicated to athletic success and providing its student-athletes with the best possible experience. I want to personally thank athletic director Tim Hall for giving me the opportunity to expand both programs and I am looking forward to taking these student-athletes to the next level. I am excited to get to work with such an incredible athletic department and driven student-athletes."
 
A four-year standout and captain at Coker from 2018-21, Clarke finished her career sixth on the all-time career singles wins list and tied for fifth on the all-time career doubles wins list.
 
In the classroom, Clarke was a three-time member of the South Atlantic Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll, a three-time recipient of the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award, a member of two ITA All-Academic Teams and a two-time ITA Scholar-Athlete.
 
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in physical education with a concentration in exercise science, Clarke returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach for the 2021-22 season. That year, she helped the Cobras to 11 victories, including six on the women's side, while recruiting some of the most competitive teams in program history.
 
Clarke also spent 2021 as the head tennis professional at Hartsville (S.C.) Country Club and earned a master's of business administration from Lenoir-Rhyne in 2024.