Jan. 19, 2000

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released its rankings for the Central Region and has chosen Missouri 11th out of 32 teams, head coach Blake Starkey announced today. After their strongest showing in years, the Tigers finished last year ranked 15th with a 10-16 overall record. The current 11th place ranking is the highest the Tigers have ever been.

"A lot of this is based on what we did last year, and I don't think we'll be happy until we are much higher than this," said Starkey. "It is nice, however, to know that others feel we have improved enough to be ranked, but it is up to us to prove that we are worthy or better than this."

Missouri will have its first chance to show that the ranking is deserved when they travel to College Park, Md., at the end of the month. There, the Tigers will face the Maryland Terrapins and the Georgetown Hoyas.