Alison Swain ’01 will begin her sixth season at Williams in the fall of 2012 coming off of a record breaking 5 straight NCAA Championships in her first five years as a collegiate coach.

In the 2007-2008 season Swain led her team to a 21-3 overall record, the Little Three Championship, and the 2008 NCAA National Championship title. Under Swain, the team repeated as National Champions in 2009 posting an overall record of 21-2 on the year.  Again, in 2010 Swain’s team made history by 3-peating as NCAA National Champions boasting an overall record of 23-3 and taking home the Little Three Title as well. 

In 2011, Swain’s Ephs went 22-3 and made history winning both the NESCAC Conference crown for the first time since 2004 and the NCAA Championship for the fourth consecutive year and the sixth time in the program’s history.  Notably, the Ephs swept all three doubles points in each of their 5 NCAA tournament matches, posting a perfect 15-0 in doubles play, en route to the crown.

Alison Swain embraces Nancy Worley '13 after Worley battled back from down a set to beat Amherst in 2011 NCAA title match

Swain guided the 2011-12 Ephs to a glittering 24-2 record that included a 2-1 mark versus nationally ranked Div. II teams and was capped with a record breaking fifth consecutive NCAA title.

By winning five NCAA Championships in her first five years, Swain has amassed a sparkling 25-0 record at the NCAA tournament. 

Swain was co-captain of the first Williams team to win the NCAA Championship in 2001.  She also become the second coach in any division to win the NCAA Championship as both a player (2001) and a coach (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, & 2012) and is believed to be the first collegiate coach on any level to lead her team to five NCAA titles in her first five years as a head coach.

Williams College women’s tennis now boasts seven NCAA Championships in the last 12 years, which is the most of any DIII tennis program and Alison Swain has had a hand in six of them.  Williams was the first Division III women’s tennis program to win back-to-back championships in 2001 & 2002.

In her first five years, nine players under Swain have earned All-America honors (five of whom have repeated over multiple years) and 11 players have been awarded All-NESCAC honors including the 2010 NESCAC Senior Sportswoman of the Year, while the entire team earned the ITA All-Academic Team Award all four years. Three players under Swain have been selected as the ITA Northeast Player to Watch (2008, 2010 & 2012), and Grace Baljon ’10 and Kristin Alotta '12 were awarded the ITA National Senior Player of the Year honors.

Two of her Swain's players have captured the ITA Regional Singles Tournament crown and one doubles team has taken home the ITA Regional Doubles title. Finally, Swain has coached two Ephs to the NCAA National Singles Tournament Runner-Up position (2008, 2010), which is a program record. 

Swain has been honored as NESCAC Coach of the Year three times, 2009, 2010 & 2012.  In 2010, Swain was also selected as the ITA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year. She was also featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” in June 2010.

Alison Swain graduated from Williams College with High Honors in 2001 and co-captained the first women's tennis team to win the NCAA team championship title (2001). During her tennis career, she was a four-year letter winner for the Ephs, earned All-NESCAC honors, was named a Scholar-Athlete All-American, and the recipient of the Torrence M. Hunt leadership award, the Most Improved Player Award, and the Simon Sportsmanship Award.

Since 2001, Swain has pursued a career in athletics and education.  She taught middle and high school humanities in Atlanta, GA and Telluride, CO.  Swain earned her Masters Degree in Education in 2006 from the University of Washington.

Swain continued to pursue tennis after Williams College and became the number one ranked mother/daughter doubles team in 2003 when she and her mother, Sue Swain, won both the National Mother/Daughter Indoor and the National Mother/Daughter Grass Court doubles tournaments.

2011: Ephs win 4th straight NCAA title and record 6th overall

2012: Record breaking 5th straight NCAA title