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Furman Women's Tennis 2013-14 The Staff Debbie Southern Head Coach 435-267 (29 years) Tennessee, 1981 Furman head tennis coach Debbie Southern added additional achievements to an already lengthy list in 2013, after acquiring her 400th career win and leading the Paladins to the championship match of the SoCon Tournament in 2011. From 1998-2010, Southern helped the team put together a regular-season conference winning streak of 100 straight matches. Southern has coached her players to many individual honors as well over the last few seasons. In 2009, senior Laura Gioia became the first-ever Furman women's tennis player to be recognized as an ITA All-American. Gioia's national rank of ninth early in the spring of 2009 is the highest ranking ever achieved by a Furman women's tennis player. During the 2011 season, senior Monica Arguello competed in the NCAA Singles Championships and was named the SoCon Female Athlete of the Year. While Southern is the winningest women's tennis coach in Furman history (435 victories), she maintains a focus that is the same as it was from her first day on the job: Make Furman women's tennis more and more competitive each day. During her tenure at Furman, Southern, who was inducted into the Furman Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013, has led her squads to 16 Southern Conference tournament titles, a .917 Southern Conference winning percentage (209-19), and an unbeaten record in regular-season league play dating from to 1998-2010 (100 matches). After leading the Lady Paladins to a perfect 9-0 league record in 2007, Southern was recognized as Furman's J. Lyles Alley Coach of the Year for a fourth time. In November of 2012, Southern, along with her late The Southern File • 435 Career Wins ( . Winningest Women's Tennis Coach at Furman) • 16 SoCon Tournament Titles • 17 SoCon Regular-Season Crowns • 13 SoCon Coach-of-the-Year Awards • Member of the ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame (2012) • Member of the S.C. Tennis Hall of Fame (2004) • Member of the Furman Athletics Hall of Fame (2013) • Furman J. Lyles Alley Coach of the Year ('98, '02, '06 & '07) • 1 ITA All-American • 157 All-Conference Selections • 138 SoCon Honor Roll Members • 51 SoCon Singles Champions • 21 SoCon Doubles Champions • .917 SoCon Winning Percentage • 100 Match Reg.-Season SoCon Winning Streak (19982010) father, Harold, and her mother, Mildred, were inducted to the ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame. The Harold T. Southern family, also known as the First Family of Winston-Salem Tennis, provided a legacy endowment to the ITA Women's Collegiate Hall of Fame, to enrich the program and secure its future. On December 4, 2004, Southern was recognized for her coaching efforts with her induction into the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame. This honor was in recognition of not only her coaching success, but of her tireless work with the sport on the national, regional and local levels. Southern was introduced at the induction ceremony by Rex Maynard, father of former Paladin Sadie Ellen Maynard and past president of the South Carolina Tennis Patrons Foundation. He commented, "Coach Southern has done more with less, as far as developing a tennis program goes, than anyone I know. Despite Furman's relatively small size, Debbie runs a big time program and she plays big time schools. She makes the extra effort, through the Lady Paladin Tennis Boosters' Club, to raise extra money so that her team can do more. She is very fair, but she is demanding, and that is a good thing. She expects her players to work hard and be successful on the court and in the classroom, and they are. I think what she has done is truly remarkable, and I am thrilled that she was selected for the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame." Southern is known for playing difficult non-conference schedules in order to better prepare her team for conference success. To get her team ready for such stiff competition, Southern puts a strong emphasis on physical fitness. She leads her players in a stringent off-season Southern, the all-time winningest women's tennis coach at Furman, led the Paladins to conditioning program that includes their 17th Southern Conference regular-season championship in 2009. both aerobic and anaerobic workouts. 2 17 SoCon Regular Season Championships ~ 16 SoCon Tournament Crowns