Melissa Dennis enters her second season as an assistant coach with the UALR soccer program in 2007-08 and brings a wealth of Sun Belt Conference experience with her. The former Melissa Robinson, she was a four-year starting defender at Western Kentucky and was twice named CoSIDA Academic All-District during her collegiate career.
 
A native of Maumelle, Ark., Dennis played in 72 matches during her WKU career, drawing 62 starts. As a freshman in 2001, Dennis made 18 starts and finished the year with one goal and an assist en route to earning the team's defensive player-of-the-year award and a spot on Soccerbuzz.com's First-Year All-National team.
 
Dennis went on to earn Second-Team all-Sun Belt honors in 2002 and a spot on the league's preseason all-conference squad in 2003. As a senior, Dennis dished out a career-high four assists to help WKU to a 10-9 record.
 
Her success carried over to the classroom as well, as Dennis earned a place on the Sun Belt Commissioner's List in each of her four years at Western and was named CoSIDA Academic All-District IV Second Team in 2003 and 2004. Her academic all-district honor in 2003 made her the first Lady Topper to achieve the feat.
 
Dennis was born Oct. 8, 1982 in Memphis, Tenn., and attended Little Rock Central High School, where she was a two-time all-state selection and a member of the all-Arkansas team as a junior. She graduated from WKU in 2005 with a bachelor of arts degree in corporate and organizational communication and minors in marketing and business administration.