Erin Ness Earns Old Dominion Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year Award

By Brian Laubscher
May 18, 2026

Erin Ness, head women's tennis coach and senior women's administrator at Washington and Lee University, was selected as the 2026 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Women's Tennis Coach of the Year in voting conducted by the league's coaches.

Ness has claimed the conference's top coaching 10 times during her W&L career, including each of the past five seasons. This year, she has led the Generals to a 22-2 overall record and a perfect 10-0 mark in conference play. The 22 wins are the program's most since compiling 24 victories during the 2014-15 campaign.

W&L won its 23rd-straight ODAC title with a 4-0 victory over Averett University in the conference tournament championship match on May 3, earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Blue & White opened NCAA competition with a 4-1 win over 10th-ranked Trinity University and then knocked off seventh-ranked Emory University by a score of 4-3 to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Generals next play fourth-ranked Wesleyan University on Monday, May 18, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It will mark W&L's first appearance in the quarterfinals since 2021. The Generals last advanced to the semifinals in 2008 when they finished as the national runner-up.

Ness has led the Generals to the ODAC title 12 times in her 13 seasons, with no conference championship held in 2020. She holds a 257-71 (.784) record at W&L and has never lost a match to a conference opponent (140-0 in the regular season).

Ness has been a member of the W&L faculty since 2012. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is currently working toward a master's degree in kinesiology and sports psychology from San José State University.

If you know a W&L faculty member who has done great, accolade-worthy things, tell us about them! Nominate them for an accolade.