By: Erin Madden

BEREA, Ohio - When Baldwin Wallace University men's tennis alumnus Keith Fridrich '94 began his coaching career, the team finished 2-14 on the season. At that pace, it was going to take Fridrich 50 years to record 500 wins.

Luckily for Fridrich, the pace accelerated as he just recently eclipsed that milestone as an assistant tennis coach at Faith Lutheran Middle School & High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. The marquee victory came on March 22 against Virgin Valley High School from Mesquite, Nevada.

Much of Fridrich's success has come at Faith Lutheran, where he now owns a 296-100 record. However, his coaching career all began in northeast Ohio at St. Augustine Academy, which has since closed and reopened as Lakewood Catholic Academy. After two seasons at St. Augustine with a total of eight wins, he then spent seven seasons at St. Edward High School, accumulating an additional 57 wins, before moving to the collegiate level to coach at his alma mater. While Fridrich was an assistant coach for the Yellow Jackets from 2001-2003, BW had an overall record of 50-14.

Fridrich then returned to the high school level, where he spent one season at Avon High School followed by four seasons at Lake Ridge Academy. While at Lake Ridge, he was named the Lorain County Boys Coach of the Year and he left northeast Ohio with 84 wins under his belt.

Since Fridrich moved out west and began working at Faith Lutheran, the Crusaders have enjoyed tremendous success on the court. The girls team has qualified for the Nevada State Tournament (Final Four) in seven of the last eight seasons, won one State 1A championship and have been state runner-up three additional times. The boys have qualified to the state tournament twice as well.

Alongside his coaching duties, Fridrich currently works as a tennis professional at Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas.