THE OFFICIAL HOME OF McNEESE ATHLETICS

Helena Besovic enters her third season at the helm of the McNeese women's tennis program.

In just two years as the head coach, Besovic has put her stamp on the Cowgirl program. She has led the squad to conesecutive 10+ win seasons including 15 victories in 2016. She became the second coach in McNeese tennis history to guide her squads to 10 or more wins in her first two years. 

Under Besovic, Cowgirl freshman Giovanna Fioretti earned Southland Conference Freshman of the Year honors after producing a 14-6 dual record in singles, including an 8-3 mark in league play. Fioretti filled in at the No. 1 spot towards the end of the season and posted a 5-3 record and picked up seven wins out of her last 10 matches overall to finish the year.
 
McNeese compiled 13 victories during Besovic’s first season at the helm and also collected a third place finish in the league standings after posting an 8-3 mark. Among some of the notable victories under Besovic were two wins against a tough A&M-Corpus Christi squad as well as Southern Miss, UL-Lafayette and Air Force.
 
Besovic mentored the Louisiana Freshman of the Year Sarah Jurakova, who finished 11-2 in singles action with a 9-1 record against conference opponents. Jurakova was also named the No. 5 position singles champion in the conference. Under Besovic, two student-athletes were honored with All-Southland Conference honors as well as All-SLC Academic accolades.
 
One of the up and coming collegiate tennis coaches, Besovic comes to McNeese from the University of Missouri where she has served as an instructor in the Spanish department since 2011.
 
Before taking on the role as an instructor in the languages department, Besovic served two seasons as an assistant with the Missouri women’s tennis team.  In her third season with the team, Besovic was named as the associate interim head coach and helped guided the Tigers to an 11-8 record and an appearance in the Big 12 Women’s Tennis Championships.
 
Upon graduation, she spent one year as an assistant with the Penn State women’s tennis team.  She played a role in helping the Nittany Lions reach the Big Ten Championships.
 
Before the start of her coaching career, Besovic competed on the ITF Women’s Circuit. During her time, Besovic reached two singles finals in 10 events and won two doubles titles with partner Nina Munch-Soegaard. She also earned a career high singles ranking of No. 733 this summer, as well as a career-best doubles 659th ranking in 2007.
 
One of the greatest players to ever step on the court at Texas Christian University, Besovic posted a 67-19 singles record in two seasons with the Horned Frogs. She recorded 36 singles victories in 2006, which was second on TCU’s single-season wins chart.  Her performance on the court earned her multiple awards including the prestigious TCU Female Athlete of the Year honor and team MVP. She finished her senior season 29th in the ITA singles rankings and was the ITA Senior Player of the Year.
 
During her time at Texas Christian, Besovic was a regular in the ITA collegiate individual rankings, reaching as high as 21st in singles and eighth in doubles action.
 
Prior to transferring to TCU, Besovic played for two seasons at Ouachita Baptist earning Division II All-America. She was the doubles runner-up and the third-place singles finisher in the 2003 ITA Small College Championship. Additionally, Besovic was the ITA South Region Rookie of the Year in 2003.
 
A native of Sarajevo, Bosnia, Besovic graduated from TCU with a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations and Spanish in 2007 as well as a master’s degree in Spanish from Missouri. She recently received her Doctorate’s in Spanish Literature.