Women's Tennis
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- jenny.hiltcostello@csulb.edu
- Phone:
- 985-4336
Jenny Hilt-Costello enters her 28th year at the helm of Long Beach State Women’s Tennis. During her record-setting tenure, Beach Tennis has captured 13 Big West Tournament titles while winning nine regular season titles, and has garnered more than 400 wins, reached the NCAA Top 20 rankings, posted multiple NCAA tournament wins.
Hilt-Costello posted her 400th career victory during the 2023 season, having already reached the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) list of the Top 50 Division I Head Coaches for most active and most career wins, as well as both for winning percentages.
With a career coaching mark of 413-196 (.678) Hilt-Costello currently holds the Long Beach State women's tennis coaching records in single-season wins (22), career wins (413), and highest winning percentage (.678). Under her leadership, Long Beach State has more overall victories and more conference victories than any other program in the Big West.
Hilt-Costello has compiled a sparkling 212-54 (.797) record in Big West action through the 2023 season. Long Beach State’s conference final appearances (16, including 15 consecutive seasons from 2001-15), conference championships (13) and NCAA tournament berths (13), and NCAA Tournament wins (3) were all program firsts. This run included a 28-league match winning streak spread over the 2014-16 seasons. These records all come versus an annually strong schedule featuring wins over programs in the ACC, Big 10, Pac 12 and Ivy League.
Hilt-Costello has been named The Big West Coach of the Year a league-record nine times (2001, 2004-06, 2008-09, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2019). In 2004, she was named the West Region Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the Wilson/ITA National Coach of the Year award.
A strong developer of talent, Hilt-Costello's squads have featured nine Big West Players of the Year, six Freshman of the Year winners, 13 nationally ranked players, and 57 Big West First-Team singles and doubles honorees. Hilt-Costello has coached five singles and one doubles pair invitees to the NCAA Individual Championships. One of her Beach Tennis alums, Stephanie Bengson, played in two Australian Opens post-graduation.
From 2002-2006, Coach Hilt-Costello was on the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Committee.
Hilt-Costello's student-athletes also succeed in the classroom. The Beach have earned 21 (2003, 2005-24) ITA National All-Academic Team Awards garnering a 3.20 team grade point average or higher. Beach Tennis teams have won 20+ Long Beach State "High Team Grade Point Average" awards among the 19 varsity programs on campus.
Hilt-Costello arrived at Long Beach State 30 seasons ago, in the fall of 1995, serving as an assistant coach for two seasons before being elevated to the head coaching position.
As a collegiate player, Hilt-Costello went from walk-on to nationally-ranked team captain during her four years at UCLA, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. She achieved a career-high national ranking of No. 9 in doubles and No. 35 in singles. While at UCLA, the Bruins advanced to NCAA Tournament play all four years, including the 1991 the National Championship Finals.
Hilt-Costello's junior career included advancing to the 1988 USTA National Father-Daughter Doubles Tournament Final at the U.S. Open in New York.
Born in Madison, Wisc., and raised in Sacramento, Calif., Hilt-Costello, and her husband John own a home in Long Beach.
THE HILT-COSTELLO FILE
Alma Mater - UCLA (1995), Bachelor’s Degree, Psychology
Athletic Career
1990-1994 – UCLA (#35 singles, #9 doubles ranking)
Coaching Career
1997-Present - Long Beach State, Head Coach
1995-1997 - Long Beach State, Assistant Coach
COACHING HIGHLIGHTS
13 Big West Tournament Championships
9 Big West Regular Season Championships
#18 Highest Team National Ranking
18 Consecutive Years Nationally Ranked
13 NCAA Tournament Appearances
3 NCAA Tournament Round of 32 Appearances
9-Time Big West Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year
ITA West Region Coach of the Year & National Coach of the Year Finalist
57 Big West All-Conference First-Team Winners
9 Big West Player of the Year Awards
6 Big West Freshman of the Year Awards
5 NCAA Singles Championship Qualifiers
1 NCAA Doubles Championship Qualifier
413 Career Wins
ACADEMIC AWARDS
21 ITA All-Academic Team Awards
20+ LB State High Team Semester Team GPA Awards
Graduated all but one student-athlete that completed their 4-year eligibility
