Emory & Henry College’s Head Men’s and Women’s Tennis Coach, Christine J. Nidiffer, announced the hiring of Ryland Byrd as the Assistant Men’s & Women’s Tennis Coach for the upcoming 2021-22 season.
Byrd comes to E&H after spending the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons as the assistant coach at Milligan University.
“I am really excited about Ryland joining our program. He was a strong collegiate player and has a lot of passion for wanting to make our program the best it can be on and off the court. We share a lot of the same philosophies and are committed to providing the best student-athlete experience we can to our team members. I am looking forward to working with him and getting on the courts with our team next week,” commented Nidiffer.
Before joining the coaching ranks, Byrd was a standout tennis player for three years at the University of Mary Washington. The Eagles won the Capital Athletic Conference Championship in 2018 and 2019 and were two-time qualifiers for the NCAA Division III tournament, reaching the third round his senior year. UWM was ranked in the Top 20 in the country by the ITA all three seasons.
Individually, Byrd was named to the All-CAC First Team team at the No. 1 doubles spot with an 18-13 record as a sophomore, finishing the year ranked 23rd in Division III. The Jonesborough, Tennessee native also secured a Second-Team All-CAC honor at No. 5 singles and an all-league first-team selection at No. 1 doubles as a junior. For his career, he posted a 111-52 record across singles and doubles play.
“I am excited to join the Emory & Henry College Athletics family and learn all I can from Coach Nidiffer,” said Byrd. “This is a great opportunity for me to help the program grow and be successful in the coming years.
Byrd was a member of the men’s tennis team at Washington College as a freshman prior to transferring to UMW. He graduated from Mary Washington in 2019 with a Bachelor’s Degree in business administration.
