CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Traci Green, the head coach of the Harvard women's tennis team, has announced the hiring of Lilia Osterloh as an assistant coach. Osterloh joins the staff as Green embarks on her seventh season at the helm of the women's tennis program.

“I am thrilled to have Lilia join our coaching staff,” said Green. “Lilia brings a tremendous amount of tennis knowledge to our program having been successful at the highest levels as a college player at Stanford and topping that with a fantastic professional career reaching top 50 on the WTA tour in singles, and as high as No. 72 in doubles. I have known Lilia for many years having grown up playing on U.S. National Junior Teams together. She is knowledgeable, hardworking, enthusiastic, and extremely passionate about tennis. She will make a huge impact on our Harvard program.”

Osterloh brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Harvard, thanks to a celebrated collegiate career and ensuing professional tenure. The Columbus, Ohio native enrolled at Stanford in the fall of 1996 and led her team to the 1997 NCAA title. She also claimed the singles title that same year and qualified for the main draw of the 1996 U.S. Open, advancing to the second round of the tournament.  

She quickly made the leap to professional tennis, joining the WTA tour in the fall of 1997 and advancing to the third round of the U.S. Open in her professional debut. She would go on to climb as high as No. 41 in the world in the WTA rankings in 2001, advancing to the final 16 at both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. She was also ranked as high as No. 72 in the WTA doubles rankings in 2008. She has three International Tennis Federation (ITF) singles titles to her credit (Pittsburgh, Pa. (2005), Waikoloa, Hawaii (2006) and Monzon, Spain (2007)) and three WTA doubles crowns (Shanghai, China (2000), Auckland, New Zealand (2007) and Osaka, Japan (2010)).

Her coaching tenure began in January 2011 at the Kim Grant Tennis Academy in Palo Alto, Calif., and she signed on as a volunteer assistant coach with the Stanford women's team for the 2012-13 season. She has also held positions with the BING Nursery School for Children at Stanford, JYKER LLC and helped log live scheduled televised matches for the 2012 U.S. Open for ESPN.

Osterloh was inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame in November 2010 and completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations in June of 2013.