Bethel University Women's Tennis

Drew Fernelius enters his 14th season as the head men's and women's tennis coach at Bethel University in the 2025-26 season. He is a two-time NCAA Division III All-American from the University of St. Thomas (1989-1993), where he was inducted into the St. Thomas Hall of Fame in 2019. A Minnesota High School State Champion at New London-Spicer High School, Fernelius has extensive coaching experience including six years as Head Boys & Girls Tennis Coach at Robbinsdale Armstrong High School (2007-2012), where he was named 2009 Section 6AA Coach of the Year after increasing participation by 25 percent and tripling winning matches for both teams. Since 2013 at Bethel, he has also served as a Tennis Instructor at Williston Tennis Center in Minnetonka. Fernelius holds a B.A. in Speech Communications/Theater Education with an Athletic Coaching Minor from the University of St. Thomas and a Master of Divinity from Bethel Theological Seminary. He has served as Assistant Director of Spiritual Growth at Cornerstone Church in Crystal, Minnesota.

Jill Gierke (Weinzettel) is a Bethel University alumni (Class of 2019) who has loved tennis since a very young age. She grew up in Hastings, MN where she learned