Elizabeth Lumpkin Robinson is entering her third season as head coach of the UIC women's tennis program.
In the 2024–25 season, head coach Elizabeth Lumpkin Robinson guided the UIC women’s tennis team to a historic year, capturing the program’s first-ever Missouri Valley Conference Championship. The Flames posted an impressive 17–4 overall record, including a 7–1 mark in MVC play, and went on to defeat Illinois State and top-seeded Murray State in the conference tournament to clinch the title. With the championship victory, UIC earned its first NCAA Tournament berth as members of the MVC. The standout season was highlighted by several individual honors, including Mayu Ushio being named MVC Player of the Year and Edit Cosmo earning MVC Freshmen of the Year. The milestone campaign marked another major step forward under Lumpkin Robinson’s leadership, as she continued to elevate the program in just her second year at UIC.
During the 2023-24 season, Lumpkin Robinson led UIC to the Missouri Valley Conference semifinals for the first time in program history and coached the Flames to its first postseason victory as members of the MVC. Under Lumpkin Robinson's guidance, the Flames went 10-13 overall with a 5-3 record in conference play. UIC's third-place regular season finish was its highest in the MVC. Following the season, UIC's No. 2 doubles team of Camille Belberka and Tamara Malazonia were named All-Missouri Valley Conference, while Malazonia, Agnes Gustafsson and Zara Ryan received MVC Scholar-Athlete recognition from the conference. The trio was also named to the 2023-24 CSC Academic All-District Team.
Lumpkin Robinson was named UIC's women's tennis head coach in November 2023. Lumpkin Robinson, who grew up in suburban Naperville, Ill., returned to the Chicagoland area following six seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at the University of Oregon.
Lumpkin Robinson joined the Oregon staff in 2017 as an assistant coach before rising to associate head coach for the Ducks prior to the 2020-21 season. While in Eugene, Lumpkin Robinson helped lead the Ducks to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths (2018, 2022) and five winning seasons. She also mentored a pair of players to appearances in the NCAA Singles Championship, along with three All-Pac-12 selections and one All-American.
In 2021, Lumpkin Robinson helped coach Janice Tjen to a No. 6 year-end ITA singles ranking, the highest final national ranking ever for a Ducks player, and a spot in the national semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championship, the deepest NCAA run ever by an Oregon singles competitor. Last year, the Ducks recorded their fourth consecutive winning season and reached a high of No. 40 in the ITA national rankings. Oregon also posted two top-50 wins and Robinson coached the pair of Uxia Martinez Moral and Sophie Leuscher to a No. 77 national doubles ranking.
Prior to her tenure at Oregon, Lumpkin Robinson coached and trained elite junior players for eight years at Palm Valley and Indian Ridge Country Clubs in Palm Desert, Calif.
Playing under her maiden name, Lumpkin Robinson etched her place in the history books early in her tennis career. At Naperville Central High School, she became the first and only women’s tennis player in Illinois prep history to win four consecutive state championships. She was also a member of the United States Junior Fed Cup Team in 2002.
Robinson went on to a stellar career at UCLA from 2004-08, serving as a captain during her final season (2008) when she went 24-1 in singles play and led the Bruins to their first NCAA national championship. That same year, Robinson was named the ITA/Arthur Ashe Leadership Award winner for the West Region and the ITA/Cissie Leary Regional Sportsmanship Award recipient. A three-time member of the Pac-10 All-Academic Team, Robinson, who graduated magna cum laude from UCLA in 2009 with a degree in mass communication/media studies, still ranks eighth in school history for career wins (101).
Robinson went on to compete on the WTA and ITF pro tennis circuit from 2009-13. She had career-high world rankings of No. 443 in singles and No. 280 in doubles. notching wins over several Grand Slam competitors, including Eugenie Bouchard, Gabriela Dabrowski and Nicole Melichar. Robinson won six doubles titles and one singles crown during her four-year pro career.
Robinson is the 10th head coach in UIC women’s tennis history and only the second since 2001. She replaced Shannon Tully who led the Flames to 17 conference titles over 22 seasons.
