Michelle Dasso is in her fifth season as the Furman head women's tennis coach.
The 2026 SoCon Coach of the Year, she led the Paladins to a 17-5 overall record and a perfect 7-0 league mark to claim the SoCon regular season title. Furman advanced to the finals of the league championships for the ninth-consecutive time.
Lillie Murphy became just the third women’s tennis athlete to win both player of the year and freshman of the year in the same season, while Murphy, Elle Warren, and Macy Hitchcock earned All-SoCon citations. Six Paladins earned ITA Scholar-Athlete accolades, and Furman was again honored as an ITA All-Academic Team.
Under Dasso's direction, Furman posted a 21-4 overall record and was a perfect 7-0 against SoCon opponents in 2025. After winning the regular season championship, the Paladins claimed the Southern Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by capturing their 22nd SoCon tournament title. Furman, which finished the season ranked 46th nationally and ninth among mid-major programs, recorded wins over several ranked opponents, including then 22nd-ranked Alabama, 34th-ranked Yale, and No. 42 Rice.
Six Paladins were honored as members of the 2025 All-Southern Conference team. Sara Snyder was selected to the All-SoCon first team for singles, while Ellie Schulson and Macy Hitchcock were named to the second team for singles. In doubles, Furman captured second team citations at flights two and three, with Jess Dawson and Hitchcock filling the flight two slot and Alexa Griffith and Grace Thomas earning honors at flight three. All seven Paladins claimed ITA Scholar-Athlete citations for the 2024-25 season, and Furman was honored as an ITA All-Academic Team.
Furman concluded the 2024 season with a 6-1 Southern Conference record and advanced to the finals of the league championships for the seventh-consecutive time. Sara Snyder was selected to the All-SoCon first team for singles, while Ellie Schulson and Macy Hitchcock were named to the first team for doubles. Grace Thomas was honored with an All-SoCon second team citation at flight four singles, and Marissa Pennings was voted to the second team at flight six singles. In doubles, Furman's Jess Dawson, Snyder, and Thomas earned second-team honors. Eight Paladins were named to the ITA Scholar-Athlete team for the 2023-24 season, and Furman was honored as an ITA All-Academic Team.
In her first season at Furman, Dasso led the Paladins to the Southern Conference regular season title after posting a perfect 7-0 regular season record. The title, which was the Paladins’ seventh straight, marked Furman’s 26th overall. Ellie Schulson was named to the All-SoCon first team for singles, while Jess Dawson and Sara Snyder, who ranked as high as 51st nationally, were voted to the All-SoCon first team for doubles. Luca Victoria Vocke was chosen to the All-SoCon second team for singles and to the SoCon All-Freshman team. Six Paladins claimed ITA Scholar-Athlete citations for the 2022-23 season, and Furman was honored as an ITA All-Academic Team.
Prior to her time at Furman, Dasso served as the associate head women's coach at Duke from 2019-22, where she helped lead the Blue Devils to an ITA final national ranking of fourth in the spring of 2022. She also holds previous head coaching experience at both Campbell and Illinois.
The Duke women's tennis team posted a 52-13 record over three seasons with Dasso as the associate head coach. The Blue Devils won the 2022 ACC tournament, reached the semifinals of last season's NCAA team tournament, and set a program record with six ITA All-Americans in 2021.
Before coaching at Duke, Dasso served as the head coach at Campbell during the 2018-2019 season, where she led the Camels to the semifinals of the Big South tournament and coached two first team all-conference selections. The team was also successful in the classroom, leading all Campbell programs with a 3.68 GPA.
The head coach at Illinois from 2006-15, Dasso took the unranked program to its first NCAA tournament appearance in four years in just her second year on staff. Prior to her arrival, the Fighting Illini finished next to last in the Big Ten, and within three seasons of Dasso's hiring, Illinois ranked among the top three teams in the league. Her teams consistently produced All-Big Ten selections and under Dasso's direction, Illinois players earned the program's first All-America accolades in 20 years. The only women's collegiate coach to represent the International Collegiate Competition in Poitier, France, in 2008 (4th place) and 2009 (1st place), she recruited the nation's fourth-best recruiting class in 2010.
Dasso has previous experience as an assistant coach at Notre Dame, where she was honored as the 2006 ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year, and at Northwestern.
A Notre Dame tennis standout from 1998-2001, Dasso was the first four-time ITA All-American in school history after being honored as an All-American for both singles and doubles in 1999 and 2001. The 2001 ITA National Senior Player of the Year, she concluded her senior season ranked fifth nationally in singles and ninth in doubles and was accorded the 2001 Gladys Heldman Award, which is given annually to the nation's top senior based on athletic, academic, sportsmanship, and community service accomplishments, and the 2001 Francis Patrick O'Connor Award, which honors the student-athlete who best displays the true spirit of Notre Dame through contribution and inspiration to their teams.
A native of Long Grove, Ill., Dasso earned a bachelor's of business administration with an emphasis in marketing from Notre Dame in 2001. She competed as a professional on the WTA Tour from 2001-2003, where she won tournaments in Harrisonburg, Va., and Raleigh, N.C., and was a finalist in El Paso, Texas, and Greenville, S.C.
