Georgia Southern University Athletics

Lena Lutzeier begins her second season as the Georgia Southern women's tennis Graduate Assistant for her former head coach Sean McCaffrey for the 2021-22 season. Together, the pair helped Georgia Southern capture the 2021 Sun Belt Conference tournament title and earn its first berth into the NCAA Championships.

Lutzeier was born in Neu-Ulm, Germany, before moving to the states to attend Armstrong State University. 

In 2017, when Armstrong State and Georgia Southern merged, Lena transferred to Hawaii Pacific University, where she went on to become the Athlete of the Year in 2018. When she graduated in May of 2018, Lena was ranked No. 1 in Singles in the nation. 

During that 2018 season at Hawaii Pacific, Lena was a semifinalists at the NCAA Division II National Championship, as well as an ITA All-American First-Team Singles recipient. Lutzeier was named MVP in the Conference and was the ITA West Region Senior of the Year. Aside from earning Athlete of the Year at Hawaii Pacific, Lena was also a two-time Pac West Player of the Week, the Newcomer of the Year winner and was the DII Honda Athlete of the Year Finalist.

Prior to her time at Hawaii Pacific University, Lena attended Armstrong State University. With the Pirates, Lena played under head coach Sean McCaffrey. Lutzeier was named ITA All-American First-Team for both singles and doubles and was the MVP in the Peach Belt Conference in singles and doubles for 2017. Following the merger, Lena was inducted into the Armstrong State University Hall of Fame.

In 2015 and 2016, Lutzeier won back-to-back national championships with coach Sean McCaffrey. Lena was the winner of Individual Regional Championships singles and doubles play. She was named an ITA All-American First-Team singles and doubles for four consecutive years.  

Read about Lena's decision to return to Georgia and join the Eagles staff as a part of our Southern Staff Stories series here.