Danielle Wagland joins the women’s tennis staff as a graduate assistant this summer for her first season with the Redbirds.

Prior to Illinois State, Danielle studied and played tennis at the University of Texas. She was a team captain her senior year and helped lead her team to the NCAA sweet 16, along with Big 12 regular and post season championships.  The Longhorns ended their year ranked No. 6 by the NCAA.

Wagland was also nationally ranked No. 8 in doubles during her sophomore season. That same season her team was ranked ninth, the Longhorns went to the Sweet 16 and she earned a spot in the sweet 16 in doubles.

Wagland was named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, the University of Texas Athletic Director’s Honor Roll and was the Student Athlete Advisory Committee leader all four years.  She was also chosen to the Academic All-Big 12 Team for all four years, and won the Women’s Tennis Academic MVP her junior year.

Prior to her tenure at Texas, Wagland grew up in Sydney, Australia with her parents, Greg and Sue-Ellen, and her two brothers, Scott and Ben.  Scott still lives in Sydney, and her other brother Ben currently lives in North Carolina working in finance. 

Wagland got her start in tennis at eight years old, deciding to play after watching her brothers play the sport.  She represented Australia on numerous national teams between 2011 and 2017, including the 2017 World University Games.  She also participated in the 2012 and 2013 Australian Open Junior Championships and made it to the Round of 32 in singles and the Round of 16 in doubles.  She was also ranked as high as 94 by the ITF.