June 9, 1999

The Missouri Women's Tennis team will have a new assistant, head coach Blake Starkey announced today. Laura Zifer will fill the spot left by former assistant Eric Seltenrich.

Zifer graduated from the University of Duke in 1998, where she was a key member of the Blue Devils' tennis team for four years. She played at number three every year, never losing a NCAA match. She was also an all-ACC selection every year she was at Duke. In 1995, she was the ACC Freshman of the Year. That same year, she was also the East Region's "Player-to-watch." In 1996, she was the ACC Player of the Year and in 1997, she was the ACC's Most Valuable Player. During her senior year, she led the team to the title match of the NCAA Tournament where Duke fell 4-5 to Stanford.

During Zifer's career, Duke went to the NCAA Tournament each year and never lost an ACC match. In that same time, the Blue Devils never finished the year out of the top 10.

Upon graduation from Duke in 1998, Zifer took a year off from tennis to work in Colorado at a home for emotionally and behaviorally troubled teenagers.

"I'm really excited about adding her to our group," Starkey said. "I think that having someone with her personality and proven background is going to be beneficial for everyone."

Zifer will join the Tigers in August.