Blue Tornado Tennis

The tennis program at McCallie has been one of the strongest athletically in the history of the school.

The Blue Tornado have captured six Mid-South Championships (1941, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1960, 1964) and 13 Tennessee State Championships (1976, 1977, 1991, 1994, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). The program has been highly nationally ranked each of the past three seasons.

Jeff Clark ’91 took over as the program’s head coach in 2016-17. Coach Clark coached on the college level for nearly 20 years. He directed both the men’s and women’s programs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga from 1997-2001, winning a men’s Southern Conference crown in 2000. Clark also found success as an assistant coach with the University of Mississippi men’s team from 2002-2006, helping the Rebels to two SEC team championships, four top-10 national rankings and an NCAA final four appearance.

He returned to Chattanooga to coach the UTC’s women’s team in 2007, coaching them for nine seasons and compiling 207 victories as a Division I coach before joining the McCallie community. No stranger to McCallie, Clark played No. 1 singles under Coach Eric Voges ’81, winning a state title his senior season. Following a successful college career at Vanderbilt, he played professionally in Europe, including two seasons as the number one player for his German club team, TC Philippsburg.

Coach Voges headed the McCallie tennis program from 1987 until 2016. Under his guidance, the Blue Tornado claimed six state titles, advanced to the finals nine times, and played in the state’s final four every year since 1997. Voges now serves as the Director of Tennis Operations where he oversees McCallie's Strang-Voges Tennis Center.

In addition to the beautiful outdoor tennis setting on the Ridge, the program has access to one of the top indoor tennis facilities in the country. The Strang-Voges Tennis Center is named for John Strang, who coached tennis and taught Bible at McCallie from 1951 to 2001, and Coach Voges. The 47,000-square-foot facility boasts six indoor courts, 250 stadium seats, PlaySight video and analytics technology, and a locker room and team meeting rooms.