Carlos Carrera begins his fourth year as the Columbia Women’s Tennis program’s Volunteer Assistant Coach. His many duties include on-court coaching at team practices and individual sessions, hitting at practice as necessary and assisting with administrative and off-court duties including social media, alumni outreach, team building, player meetings and other duties as assigned by Head Coach Ilene Weintraub. He also travels with the team to away matches and tournaments.
Last year in 2021-22, Columbia played through one of the program’s most difficult schedules and ended up earning a No. 55 national ranking. The Lions finished 13-11 overall and 3-4 in the Ivy League, while Akanksha Bhan and Anna Zhang both were named to the All-Ivy League Second Team.
In 2019-20, Columbia’s season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Lions enjoyed a successful season as they ascended to their highest-ever ITA national ranking in school history at No. 21 on February 25, 2020. Columbia closed out its season with a nine-match win streak, including three straight wins over Brown, Harvard, and Yale to claim their second straight ECAC Championship. In the end, the Lions finished 11-2 overall. Jennifer Kerr and Akanksha Bhan both earned singles national individual rankings during the season.
In his first year with the Columbia women’s tennis program in 2018-19, Carrera helped lead the Lions to a 15-4 overall record, 4-3 Ivy League record, an ECAC Championship and final No. 42 national ranking by the ITA, its third-highest final ranking in school history. Columbia’s 15 wins on the year ranked as the second-most in school history and the Lions barely missed out on an NCAA Tournament berth. Earlier in the season, the Lions set a school-record with 12 consecutive dual match victories from Jan 25-April 6.
From 2016-18 Carrera has served as a tennis professional at Riverside Clay Tennis Association, where he provides private and group lessons for all ages and abilities and manages the organization’s summer camp. He has also worked as an assistant to the head coach at Saint Peter’s University for two years and as the assistant tennis professional at WestHampton Country Club.
Carrera has also been active in a variety of tennis events. In 2017, he worked as a staff member of an ATP Challenger Event in Quito, Ecuador called “The Challenger in the Andes-Quito.” In 2015-16, he served as the regional coordinator for TennisApproach.net in Jersey City, where he promoted and developed tennis programming directly with clients such as public/private schools and organizations. He has also worked in real estate in New Jersey.
An Ecuador native, Carrera graduated from Saint Peter’s University in 2015 and earned Summa Cum Laude honors with a bachelor’s degree in accounting with a minor in international business and trade. He earned the Gold Medal for superior academic performance from Saint Peters’ School of Business Administration.
An athletic scholarship recipient, he competed on Saint Peter’s men’s tennis team for four years, where he was named the 2014-15 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for highest grade point average among male student-athletes. A team captain, Carrera was a four-year Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll member and four-year Dean’s List student. He was awarded with the Ignatian Academic Scholarship and Sheila McBride James Scholarship Fund by the WestHampton Country Club.
Prior to attending Saint Peter’s, Carrera ranked as the No. 2 student in his high school graduating class. He was a Bronze Medalist in the National Multi-Sports Olympic Games in Cuenca, Ecuador in 2011.
