Danny Rowland begins his 31st season leading the women’s tennis program during the 2022-23 season. While at the helm of both the men’s and women’s programs, Rowland was four times named Coach of the Year during UVA Wise’s time in the Appalachian Athletic Conference and led his teams to six NAIA Regional appearances, taking the women’s squad to the NAIA National tournament twice.
In an altered 2020-21 campaign, the women’s team picked up a pair of wins while Liza Akimenko garnered All-South Atlantic Conference honorable mention accolades in singles. Akimenko completed the season with a 10-6 overall record at No. 1 singles.
The 2019-20 season for the Cavaliers was cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The team captured four non-conference wins in the fall before dropping their first three South Atlantic Conference matches in the spring prior to the season being suspended. Katya Akimenko and Liza Akimenko were named to the 2020 Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) All-State second team in doubles. Liza Akimenko also earned a spot on the VaSID All-State second team in singles and was co-winner of the UVA Wise Athletics Freshman of the Year award following her standout rookie season.
Women's tennis posted a 7-13 overall record, 4-4 league mark, and advanced to the semifinals of the Mountain East Conference tournament during the 2018-19 campaign in the program's final season in the MEC. Rowland's team picked up major regular season victories against Concord, Shepherd, and Fairmont State, and defeated the fourth-seeded West Liberty Hilltoppers in the quarterfinals of the league tournament. The team's campaign concluded with three players garnering All-MEC accolades as junior Aya Melhem and freshman Katya Akimenko were placed on the All-MEC Second Team while freshman Liza Akimenko was named to the All-MEC first team and earned Freshman of the Year.
During the 2017-18 season, Coach Rowland claimed his 300th career victory, earning the milestone win on March 3, 2018 against Emory and Henry College. Rowland also oversaw a pair of All-MEC Second Team selections in senior women’s tennis player Daria Tyshchenko and senior men’s tennis player Andrii Rutnytskyi. The women’s tennis program ended their 2017-18 campaign with an 8-11 overall record, going 3-5 in the Mountain East Conference, and entered the MEC tournament as a sixth seed. The men’s tennis program completed their 2017-18 season with a 3-14 overall record and a 1-6 league mark.
In the 2016-17 season, Rowland guided the women’s team to a fifth-place finish in the MEC regular season standings for the third time in the past four years. In the spring of 2016, Rowland led the men’s team to an 11-9 overall record and the first MEC Tournament match victory in either men’s or women’s program history, a thrilling 5-4 first-round win over Fairmont State University. Securing a fourth-place finish in the MEC regular season standings, the Cavs’ 11-win season was among one of the best for the head coach, being only topped by the 1999 campaign in which Rowland guided the men's team to a program-best 13-2 record. In 2014, Rowland recorded his 250th win as a head coach at UVA Wise during the Cavaliers’ inaugural season in the Mountain East Conference with a 5-4 men’s home victory over West Virginia State.
Among some of Rowland’s top accomplishments is leading the women’s team to the 2006 AAC Tournament title and hosting the NAIA Region XII tournament before falling to regional winner Indiana University Southeast. That season the Cavs finished with an overall record of 15-5, one the best marks by the women’s team in program history. Rowland’s Cavs have advanced to the MEC Women’s Tennis Tournament every season since joining the league in 2013.
Rowland is a 1984 graduate of then Clinch Valley College and resides in Wise. He is the co-owner of Impressions, Inc., a screen printing and embroidery company located in downtown Wise.
