Men's Tennis
Lora, Carlos
Carlos Lora
- Title:
- Men's Assistant Coach
- Email:
- cal9106@utulsa.edu
Carlos Lora was added to The University of Tulsa men's tennis program as an assistant coach in August of 2024.
In 2024, Lora helped coach Alex Okonkwo to the inaugural American Athletic Conference men's singles title, becoming the program's first-ever individual conference champion. Okonkwo went on to earn Singles All-Conference honors.
Lora joined the Hurricane after serving as the Director of Tennis for one year at Longwood University. He guided Longwood to its first Big South Conference tournament berth on the men's side since 2019, leading the Lancers to an 8-8 overall mark. He helped Alejandro Hernandez and Timeo Puech to all-Big South honors with Puech garnering first team singles and second-team doubles recognition and Hernandez picking up second-team singles and doubles plaudits.
The Lancers' women's team under Lora went 7-10 overall and 1-4 in the league, winning three of its final four matches despite narrowly missing qualifying for the Big South tournament. Feline van Eijkelenburg and Oriana Izarra were named to the all-conference team with van Eijkelenburg earning second-team honors in both singles and doubles and Izarra claiming a second-team doubles nod.
Lora's players excelled in the classroom, as well. Nine members of his teams, including five on the women's side earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors, while both squads also claimed ITA All-Academic Team recognition.
Prior to Longwood, Lora enjoyed a successful tenure over two seasons at Mount Olive. During his two years, both his men’s and women’s teams achieved top-40 rankings. He led the women’s team to back-to-back Conference Carolinas tournament titles. On the men’s side, the team advanced to the Conference Carolinas tournament semifinal in each season with a trip to the finals in his first year leading the team.
He helped the Mount Olive women’s team make history by going unbeaten in conference regular-season play in 2022. That team then polished off the season sweep by winning the conference tournament to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament.
Throughout his coaching career, Lora has focused on helping players develop on and off the court. In 2022, he had a men’s player, Armando Ferreira, named a finalist for the ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award. In addition, he had several players earn national rankings during his time at Mount Olive. His doubles pairing of Yelyzaveta Voloshyna and Nele Weber ranked the highest, at No. 25.
Lora started his coaching career as an assistant at Division III Averett after playing there for four seasons and serving as a team captain for two. During his time at Averett, he helped the team earn multiple all-conference selections and helped Heidi Sarkkinen achieve a No. 21 ranking nationally during the 2018-19 season. In addition, he helped coach a player to the NCAA Individual Championships in the spring of 2021.
From there, he moved to Purdue as a volunteer assistant on the women’s tennis team. While in West Lafayette, Ind., he continued to hone his skills in film analysis and breakdowns to help players improve, and he helped coach Csilla Fodor to a singles national ranking of No. 111.
Lora earned his bachelor's degree in athletic training from Averett in 2018 before earning his master’s from Averett in 2020.
In 2024, Lora helped coach Alex Okonkwo to the inaugural American Athletic Conference men's singles title, becoming the program's first-ever individual conference champion. Okonkwo went on to earn Singles All-Conference honors.
Lora joined the Hurricane after serving as the Director of Tennis for one year at Longwood University. He guided Longwood to its first Big South Conference tournament berth on the men's side since 2019, leading the Lancers to an 8-8 overall mark. He helped Alejandro Hernandez and Timeo Puech to all-Big South honors with Puech garnering first team singles and second-team doubles recognition and Hernandez picking up second-team singles and doubles plaudits.
The Lancers' women's team under Lora went 7-10 overall and 1-4 in the league, winning three of its final four matches despite narrowly missing qualifying for the Big South tournament. Feline van Eijkelenburg and Oriana Izarra were named to the all-conference team with van Eijkelenburg earning second-team honors in both singles and doubles and Izarra claiming a second-team doubles nod.
Lora's players excelled in the classroom, as well. Nine members of his teams, including five on the women's side earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors, while both squads also claimed ITA All-Academic Team recognition.
Prior to Longwood, Lora enjoyed a successful tenure over two seasons at Mount Olive. During his two years, both his men’s and women’s teams achieved top-40 rankings. He led the women’s team to back-to-back Conference Carolinas tournament titles. On the men’s side, the team advanced to the Conference Carolinas tournament semifinal in each season with a trip to the finals in his first year leading the team.
He helped the Mount Olive women’s team make history by going unbeaten in conference regular-season play in 2022. That team then polished off the season sweep by winning the conference tournament to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament.
Throughout his coaching career, Lora has focused on helping players develop on and off the court. In 2022, he had a men’s player, Armando Ferreira, named a finalist for the ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award. In addition, he had several players earn national rankings during his time at Mount Olive. His doubles pairing of Yelyzaveta Voloshyna and Nele Weber ranked the highest, at No. 25.
Lora started his coaching career as an assistant at Division III Averett after playing there for four seasons and serving as a team captain for two. During his time at Averett, he helped the team earn multiple all-conference selections and helped Heidi Sarkkinen achieve a No. 21 ranking nationally during the 2018-19 season. In addition, he helped coach a player to the NCAA Individual Championships in the spring of 2021.
From there, he moved to Purdue as a volunteer assistant on the women’s tennis team. While in West Lafayette, Ind., he continued to hone his skills in film analysis and breakdowns to help players improve, and he helped coach Csilla Fodor to a singles national ranking of No. 111.
Lora earned his bachelor's degree in athletic training from Averett in 2018 before earning his master’s from Averett in 2020.
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