Erin Ness is in her first year as the head women's tennis coach at Washington and Lee University.

Ness comes to W&L from the University of California-Santa Cruz, where she served as the head women's tennis coach for the last six seasons.  She led the Banana Slugs to the NCAA Division III Tournament three times, while mentoring her athletes to All-America honors a total of five times.  Her 2008, 2011 and 2012 teams all earned Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team accolades and she was named the Wilson/ITA West Region Coach of the Year in 2011.

In addition to coaching, Ness served as a physical education instructor at UC-Santa Cruz and served as the assistant director of the Nike Tennis Camps held on campus since 2004.

Ness was a four-year starter in both singles and doubles as an undergraduate at UC-Santa Cruz, serving as a team captain for her senior season.  Twice she helped guide the team to the NCAA Tournament and she was a regionally ranked doubles player. 

Ness earned a bachelor of arts in psychology in 2006 and is currently working towards a master of arts in kinesiology and sports psychology from San Jose State University.