COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Mountain West announces San Diego State’s Nicolas Vinel as the 2026 Mountain West Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year, as selected by the league’s 12 head coaches.
Vinel is in his first season as the helm of the Aztecs but in his 12th season overall with the program after starting as a volunteer assistant and spending six years as associate head coach under longtime SDSU head man Peter Mattera, who retired after last season. Vinel follows Mattera as the second head coach in program history to earn Coach of the Year honors, earning the Aztecs’ fourth award all-time.
Under Vinel, San Diego State has gone 21-3 this season, marking its eighth 20-win season in program history and the most wins since going 22-6 in 2013. The Aztecs were ranked as high as No. 22 in the ITA National Collegiate rankings and have spent most of the season in the top 50. After going 10-1 in Mountain West play and sharing the regular-season title, San Diego State blew through the conference championship, winning 4-0, 4-2 and 4-1 en route to its third Mountain West Tournament title.
Under Vinel’s tutelage, three Aztecs earned All-MW Singles honors, while two doubles pairs were selected to the All-MW Doubles Team with San Diego State being the only program to have more than one pair earn the doubles’ postseason honors.
With the Conference’s automatic bid in hand, San Diego State heads to Tempe, Arizona to take on UCLA on Friday, May 1 in its 25th NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship appearance all-time.
