Elizabeth Searl enters her sixth full season as head coach of the Clayton State University State women's tennis team.

Searl in the last five years has built the Clayton State women's tennis program into a national power. The CCSU program has advanced to the NCAA national tournament three of the last five seasons and been ranked in the ITA's Top-25 for five straight years. 

In 2002,  she led the Lakers to their first-ever appearance in the "Sweet-Sixteen" of NCAA Division II National Championships after leading the squad to a Peach Belt Conference Championship in 2001 and a PBC runner-up finish in 2002. 

Under her guidance, the Lakers have had two All-Americas in the last four seasons in Jackeline Nieto and Nathalia Collantes. Nieto was a three-time All-America in singles and a two-time selection in doubles, while Collantes was a two-time selection in doubles. Coach Searl was also recognized as the 2001 Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year.

Prior to coming to Clayton State, she served as an assistant coach with the Georgia Southern women’s tennis program in 1997 and worked with a pair of nationally ranked players, including the Southern Conference Player-of-the-Year. Besides her coaching duties, she was responsible for monitoring the Lady Eagles’ academic progress, which resulted in a school-best 3.5 team grade point average.

In her native land of Venezuela, she worked as an assistant coach for the Junior Development Program, where she coached and trained 10 nationally ranked players.

During her four-year career at GSU, Searl compiled a 68-4 singles record and was tabbed Southern Conference Player-of-the-Year three times. A four-time Southern Conference Tournament and GSU most valuable player, she captured four consecutive conference No. 1 singles championships, two doubles championships, and was ranked as high as 35th in the Rolex Collegiate rankings and 37th by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) in her senior year. She also led the Lady Eagles to back-to-back SoCon championships in 1995 and 1996.

As a junior player in Venezuela, Nieto was ranked 13th in the world in singles and 14th in doubles. She competed in several tournaments around the world as a junior player, including such high-profile events as the United States Open, Wimbledon and the French Open.