Audra Cohen - Head Coach - Women's Tennis Coaches

Audra Cohen

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
audra@ou.edu

The Cohen File:

Coached Dana Guzman and Alina Shcherbinina to No. 2 nationally in the doubles rankings to become the highest-ranked doubles team in program history.
Coached 2023 Singles National Runner-Up Layne Sleeth
2022 National Runner-Up, deepest postseason run in program history
2022 National and Big 12 Coach of the Year
Highest ITA and USTA ranking in program history (No. 2)
Most wins in a season in program history (32)
2022 Big 12 Regular Season Champions, first time in program history
Reached program's first ITA National Indoors appearance, finished Runner-Up
Undefeated in conference play and at home in 2022; undefeated at home in 2023

Audra Cohen has elevated the OU women’s tennis program to unprecedented heights and will enter her 10th season at the helm in 2025-26.

Cohen was named head coach by OU Vice President and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione on June 30, 2016.

Since taking over, Cohen has led the Sooners to a 162–66 record, with 27 athletic all-conference honors, including her own recognition as the 2022 Big 12 Coach of the Year. The team has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five years the event has been held.

Academically, her teams have earned 44 all-conference honors, and OU has been named an ITA All-Academic Team every season under her leadership

In their inaugural SEC season, Cohen guided the Sooners to 20 wins, including eight victories over top-25 opponents, securing the No. 6 overall seed in the NCAA Championship. The team also advanced to the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships. Three players earned All-SEC honors, highlighted by Julia Garcia Ruiz’s All-America nod as a national singles semifinalist.

In 2024, seven Sooners combined for eight All-Big 12 honors. OU earned a top-three seed at the Big 12 Championship for the third consecutive year. Five players were ranked in the ITA singles rankings as of Feb. 20 — the most simultaneous individual rankings during Cohen’s tenure. Dana Guzman and Alina Shcherbinina climbed to No. 2 in the national doubles rankings, becoming the highest-ranked duo in program history.

OU closed out the regular season on a six-match winning streak, going undefeated during the month of April. The team's signature wins of the season came in one weekend: a 4-3 victory over No. 12 San Diego on Feb. 23 and a 4-2 upset of No. 5 North Carolina State on Feb. 25.

Claiming another postseason tournament berth, the Sooners defeated No. 40 Arizona in NCAA Regional competition before falling to No. 13 Texas A&M (the eventual national champions) in the NCAA Super Regionals.

Oklahoma built off its remarkable 2022 season in 2023. The Sooners again earned a signature victory in the ITA Indoor Nationals over No. 4 Duke. OU continued its home winning streak, going 16-0 in the friendly confines of the Headington Family Tennis Center. A Bedlam sweep (4-0 on April 7) highlighted Oklahoma’s dominance on its home court.

The Sooners returned to the postseason and defeated Washington in NCAA Regional competition, extending their home win streak to 36 matches. However, OU fell to No. 3 Georgia in NCAA Super Regionals, concluding the team season.

The season did not end there for senior Layne Sleeth, though. Sleeth went on a five match winning streak in the NCAA Singles Championship to reach the finals and cement her place in Sooner history. During her stellar season, Sleeth notched seven ranked victories, including wins over the No. 3 and No. 13 players in the country, before falling in the national title match.

The 2022 campaign marked the most successful season in Oklahoma history. Cohen took the Sooners to the NCAA Tournament and surpassed the second round for the first time in program history. The Sooners went on to advance to the Elite Eight after defeating No. 15 Stanford, Final Four after defeating No. 7 Texas A&M and reached the championship with a win over No. 3 Duke. OU finished their season as the 2022 National Runner-Up after falling to No. 4 Texas.

Throughout the illustrious year, the Sooners collected 12 sweeps, 17 ranked wins against teams in the top 30, four Big 12 Player of the Week honors and went undefeated at home. At the beginning of the season, the Sooners beat No. 6 Duke, which at the time was the program’s highest-ranked win and sent them to their first ever ITA National Indoors appearance. At the ITA National Indoors, OU beat No. 1 Texas, the first win against the Longhorns since 2003 and defending NCAA champions and beat No. 5 Pepperdine to advance to the championship.

The Sooners reached their highest program ranking at No. 2 in the ITA and No. 1 in the USTA and went on a 16-match winning streak. OU also beat No. 6 Texas at home, their second win against the Longhorns in 2022.

OU claimed their first program Big 12 Regular Season Title after taking the Bedlam victory in an intense back-and-forth battle to conclude the 2022 regular season and launch into the 2022 postseason run.

The Sooners finished the 2021 season at 15-7 overall for a .682 win percentage. For the first time since 2014, OU entered the ITA top 25 and rose as high No. 21 nationally. The Sooners downed seven ranked opponents, posting their signature win with an upset of No. 16 UCF, who would go on to win the American Conference.

For the first time in Cohen's tenure, three or more players were ranked in the ITA singles rankings in each week the rankings were released and all earned career-high rankings. Additionally, OU's Carmen and Ivana Corley peaked at No. 11 nationally to capture the program's highest doubles ranking in history, and earn a bid to the 2021 NCAA Doubles Championships.

Cohen coached four players who earned a total of seven All-Big 12 honors. Martina Capurro was named to the singles second team and was the No. 4 position co-champion; Carmen Corley was tabbed to the first team in singles and earned first team honors in doubles alongside Ivana Corley; and freshman Dana Guzman earned a trio of accolades as a second team singles selection, an all-freshman team member and the No. 2 position champion.

Seven Sooners earned All-Big 12 academic honors to tie the program record for the second consecutive season.

Although the 2019-20 season ended early due to COVID-19, the Sooners opened Big 12 play undefeated (2-0) and looked to build on a 5-4 record in 2019, its best Big 12 record since 2014. OU finished the 2020 spring slate at 8-3 overall and closed out the year on a five-match winning streak.

Cohen coached Martina Capurro to ITA Central Region Player to Watch honors and a program-record seven Sooners earned Academic All-Big 12 accolades with six of those first team honorees.

In 2018-19, OU went 17-9 en route to earning the program’s first NCAA tournament berth since 2015. The Sooners advanced to the second round at the Chapel Hill Regional with a win over Winthrop in the first round.

Under Cohen’s guidance, Oleksandra Korashvili was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year after a breakout season. Korashvili took down seven ranked opponents with four of those victories against top-25 players and reached a career-high No. 19 ranking on March 19. Korashvili also earned a bid to the NCAA Singles Championships, marking the third consecutive season an OU player made an appearance there.

Korashvili also earned first team All-Big 12 honors. Capurro and Camila Romero joined Korashvili on the All-Big 12 list as they earned second team honors in singles as well as as a doubles duo.

During the 2017-18 year, Cohen guided the Sooners to a 15-12 record, their most wins since 2015. Miyazaki once again qualified for the NCAA Singles Championships, becoming just the second Sooner to qualify for the tournament in multiple seasons, and finished her career with 96 singles wins, tying her for fourth in program history.

In her first year at the helm for the Sooners, Cohen led the team to a 14-8 overall record, surpassing the previous year’s mark of eight wins prior to opening conference play. Cohen coached Lily Miyazaki to All-Big 12 Singles First Team honors, as well as the program’s first NCAA Singles Championships berth since 2004. Under Cohen’s guidance, Miyazaki won the 2016 ITA Central Region singles title and earned a career-high ITA singles ranking of No. 10.

In 2018, Miyazaki brought home the NCAA Elite 90 Award, the award given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at each of the NCAA’s 90 finals sites; Miyazaki is the third Sooner in school history to earn the honor.

Prior to her arrival at OU, Cohen spent five seasons as the head coach at North Florida where she led the program to four NCAA Tournament appearances while winning four Atlantic Sun tournament titles.

Cohen, a three-time Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year, led North Florida to a 77-27 overall record and a .740 winning percentage during her five seasons with the Ospreys.

Cohen’s teams dominated the league during her tenure at UNF, posting a 36-1 mark against conference foes. She coached three different players to Atlantic Sun Player of the Year honors while Ospreys earned 29 all-conference selections.

In 2016, Cohen guided North Florida to a 13-7 record as the Ospreys posted their second straight undefeated conference slate and made their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in five years under her direction. She also coached Noemi Hemmerich to the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Award while five more Ospreys collected all-conference honors.

North Florida posted a program-best 17 wins under Cohen’s direction in 2015 as seven players collected postseason All-Atlantic Sun honors en route to an NCAA Tournament berth. In 2014, North Florida climbed to as high as No. 63 in the ITA national rankings while the Ospreys posted a perfect 8-0 mark in league play.

In her first season, Cohen helped UNF to both the 2012 Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament championships to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. The Ospreys finished 9-0 in Atlantic Sun play with six players taking home all-conference honors. She followed up in her second year at North Florida with a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2013, leading UNF to a No. 74 ranking by the ITA.

Cohen was also one of four coaches named to lead the USTA’s Men’s and Women’s Collegiate Teams, an elite training program for the top American collegiate tennis players in 2011. The program is designed to provide collegiate players with valuable exposure to the USTA Pro Circuit.

Prior to being named head coach at North Florida in 2011, Cohen served a two-year stint as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin starting in 2009.

A native of Plantation, Fla., Cohen began her collegiate career at Northwestern where she earned All-America honors in singles and doubles, was named Big Ten’s Player of the Year as a freshman and the ITA’s Rookie of the Year, while advancing to the NCAA Singles championship final. She graduated in 2009 from Miami with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Cohen transferred to Miami where she won the 2007 NCAA Women’s Individual Singles Championship in 2007. She finished her collegiate career at Miami with five All-America selections as a Hurricane while winning ITA National Player of the Year honors twice as well as the Honda Sports Award for women’s tennis in 2007. Cohen was a two-time ACC Player with the Hurricanes and posted a 76-4 record in singles. In 2017, Cohen was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame.

Cohen captained the 2007 Pan-American Olympic Team, played professionally on the WTA Tour and competed in the US Open Main Draw in both singles and doubles, while winning one USTA Pro Circuit title in 2006.

Cohen is married to Coach Cobra and they both reside in Norman.

Cohen Year-by-Year Results as a Head Coach

Year	School	Overall W-L	Conference Finish	NCAA Finish	Final ITA Rank
2011-12	North Florida	16-5	9-0	Round of 64	-
2012-13	North Florida	16-5	7-1	Round of 64	-
2013-14	North Florida	15-6	8-0	-	-
2014-15	North Florida	17-4	6-0	Round of 64	-
2015-16	North Florida	13-7	6-0	Round of 64	-
2016-17	Oklahoma	14-8	4-5	-	46
2017-18	Oklahoma	15-12	5-6	-	51
2018-19	Oklahoma	17-9	5-5	Round of 32	32
2019-20*	Oklahoma	8-3	2-0	N/A	N/A
2020-21	Oklahoma	15-7	5-3	Round of 64	28
2021-22	Oklahoma	32-3	9-0	Runner-Up	2
2022-23	Oklahoma	22-10	8-1	Round of 16	13
2023-24	Oklahoma	19-7	11-2	Round of 32	19
2024-25	Oklahoma	20-7	11-4	Round of 32	10