Coaching Staff
Head Coach Luciano Battaglini, 12th season
Phone: 507-222-4053 (office) — 612-209-8475 (cell)
Email: lhbattag@carleton.edu
Record at Carleton: 161-64 (11 seasons)
Luciano Battaglini took over as Carleton's head women's tennis coach prior to the 2007-08 season and has built the Knights into one of the top programs in the Midwest. His squads have been nationally ranked each of the last seven seasons, helping earn Battaglini recognition as the 2011 ITA Division III National Women's Coach of the Year as well as 2011 Regional Coach of the Year.
He earned MIAC Coach-of-the-Year honors in 2017 after his squad went 16-5 and captured its fourth conference regular-season title since 2012.
A native of Brazil, he garnered his first MIAC Coach-of-the-Year honor after guiding Carleton to both the MIAC’s regular-season and postseason titles in 2012. The squad successfully defended its 2013 MIAC Playoff title in 2014 and made a return trip to the NCAA Championships, the Knights’ sixth trip overall to the national tournament. Battaglini has coached players to a combined six All-American citations, 60 All-MIAC awards, 31 ITA Scholar-Athlete awards, and five individual appearances at the NCAA Championships.
Prior to coming to Carleton, Battaglini worked one season as the assistant women’s tennis coach at Oklahoma State University (D-I), where he helped lead the Cowgirls to their first Big 12 title in school history. Oklahoma State finished the 2002-03 season ranked 25th in the nation. He then spent four seasons as the assistant women’s tennis coach at the University of Minnesota (D-I), and his connections to that program have allowed the Knights to play against Division I competition on several occasions.
Battaglini is a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA), Professional Tennis Registry (PTR), International Coaches Institute (ICI) and is certified as an USPTA High Performance Coach.
Fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese, he received his bachelor of science degree in psychology from Oklahoma Christian University, where he played tennis from 1996-2000. He was a 2000 ITA All-American and ITA Scholar-Athlete. Battaglini earned his master's degree in family science from Oklahoma State University.
Prior to his collegiate career, Battaglini was a seven-time state champion in Brasilia, Brazil, as a junior player, and went over 100 matches without a loss from 1990-96. In 1989-90, he was ranked in the nation's top 10 among junior players and rose to the top five in 1992. During his tennis career in Brazil, Battaglini had the opportunity to train and compete against former number one professional player in the world, Gustavo Kuerten, as well as former top 100 professional players Mariano Puerta, Mariano Zabaleta, Andre Sa, Marcos Daniel and Alexandre Simoni.
He also serves as an professor in the physical education, athletics and recreation (PEAR) department at Carleton.