Geoff Hernandez enters his 4th season as the Lipscomb men’s tennis head coach in 2020-21. He spent the previous three years as an assistant under his brother, Mario.
In 2019-20, Hernandez coached the Bisons to their best season in program history. It started in the fall season with several key highlights.
Reigning ASUN Doubles Team of the Year – Victor Chaw and Pablo Caffarena - kicked off the season in September with the doubles crown at the Commodore Scramble after a 4-0 weekend with all wins coming against SEC competition, including Vanderbilt's No. 31 ranked pairing in the country in the final.
A little over a month later, Chaw and Caffarena made history for the program by becoming the first Bisons to ever play in the doubles final of the ITA Regional Championships. The tandem reeled off four wins in four days over the likes of Chattanooga, Louisville, Tennessee and No. 8 Belmont to advance to the title bout where they eventually fell 6-4, 2-6, 1-0(9).
to Middle Tennessee.
Despite not earning the automatic bid to Newport Beach, Chaw and Caffarena were rewarded three days later with one of only 10 at-large bids, and faced off in a 32-team doubles bracket that featured the best of the best in collegiate tennis Nov. 6-10.
As the only players to ever represent Lipscomb men's tennis in the ITA National Fall Championships, the pairing fared well, but were unable to come away with a victory. They lost 5-7, 1-6 on day one to No. 8 John McNally and Robert Cash out of Ohio State, who ultimately finished as the runner-up, and then fell in the consolation bracket 6-7(7), 6-2, 3-10 against Notre Dame to end the fall season.
The spring season saw Lipscomb finish 9-1 in dual matches, the best record in program history, before COVID hit and ended the campaign early. They opened the season with a 7-0 blanking of Austin Peay and reeled off 9-straight wins to open the year, including a 6-0 mark at home. The only defeat came in the last match of the year against Tennessee Tech.
Lipscomb was nearly unstoppable throughout the spring in doubles action, combining to go 18-5 this season. The Bisons dropped just two of their first 14 decisions and won the doubles point in nine straight outings to open the spring.
Freshman Maksim Bogdanovich led the team with a 9-1 record in singles. His only loss came against TTU as well. In doubles, Chaw and Caffarena led the ASUN at the No. 1 position with a 6-1 record.
In 2018-19, the Bisons finished 7-14 overall and 2-5 in league play and went into the ASUN Tournament as the No. 6 seed, where they fell to No. 3 UNF, 4-2.
The duo of Victor Chaw and Pablo Caffarena took home the ASUN Doubles Pair of the Year award, after posting a 12-3 record in the No. 1 position. In conference play, the duo went a perfect 5-0.
In his first year at the helm of the program, Hernandez guided Lipscomb to an 8-12 overall record and a 3-3 mark in ASUN play. Victor Chaw was named 2nd Team All-Conference and teamed with Alejandro Manzanares for the No. 1 doubles pairing of the year. The Bisons earned the No. 4 seed in the conference championship where it would lose 4-1 to No. 5 Kennesaw State.
In 2016-17, Geoff helped lead the Bisons to their first appearance in the ASUN Championship match in program history as an assistant.
The Houston, Texas native has been an instructor at the Brentwood Swim & Tennis Club for the past three years while also handling his duties at Lipscomb.
Geoff played the majority of his tennis in the Pacific Northwest, primarily in Western Canada. He was the No. 1 junior in British Columbia in 16's and 18's while reaching a ranking of No. 2 in Canada for 16 and under.
He also competed in the USTA Pacific Northwest junior tournaments reaching a No. 1 ranking in the 18's playing in national and international junior events.
Collegiately, he played four years for the Portland Pilots. He was team captain his senior season. He played the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in both singles and doubles.
Portland earned the schools’ best-ever ranking of No. 45 in NCAA Division I his senior year.
After graduating with a degree in Public Relations from Portland, Geoff competed on the ITF Futures Tour for a year and also made some ATP Challenger appearances.
He has coached at the EHIT tennis club in East Hampton, New York as well as the West Hills Racquet and Fitness Club in Portland, Oregon where he worked in junior development.
