The Jeremiah Walsh era of Southern Oregon women's tennis starts Friday afternoon.

The Raiders open up the 2009 season at Linfield on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Walsh takes over for longtime coach Gail Patton who retired following last season. Patton coached the Raiders for 10 years and came away with a 111-35-1 record. Patton had 10 of SOU's current streak of 11 winning seasons.

Walsh served as the head coach at Northern Colorado as they moved from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I.

“To follow someone like Gail who has already built this program up is amazing,” Walsh said.

Walsh will have plenty of experience to work with as the 2009 SOU roster features four seniors.

Katie Ross (Lake Oswego, Ore./Lakeridge), Heidi Chiles (Redding, Calif./Foothill), Mallory Byers (Bend, Ore./Mountain View) and Erin Bruni (Eugene, Ore./Sheldon) all return for the Raiders for their senior seasons. 

“This team is very experienced,” Walsh said. “They've competed against the teams on the schedule before and they know what it takes to be successful. They set the tone for the younger players.”
Ross has been SOU's top singles player during most of her career and Walsh expects her to excel during her final season.

“She's a coaches dream,” Walsh said. “She has an amazing work ethic and a very high tennis IQ. She goes out and leads with effort and talent.”

The Raiders are also counting on juniors Charlotte Duren (Gig Harbor, Wash./South Kitsap), Katrina Sauer (Soldotna, Alaska/Cactus) and Rebecca Weicher (Grants Pass, Ore./Grants Pass), sophomore Jennifer Voth (Bend, Ore./) and freshman Elizabeth Kiger (Logan, Utah/Logan).

“Every week we have a shot that anyone of our players can be the one that steps up and wins it for us,” Walsh said.

As an example of that is that this week Ross in the No. 1 singles player, followed by Duren, Chiles, Bruni, Byers and Weicher. Next week that can all change.