COLUMBIA, Mo. – Head Coach Colt Gaston announced the addition of volunteer assistant coach Fons Verberne to the Mizzou tennis staff today. A four-year player at Saint Leo University, Verberne joins the Tigers after stints with the Saddlebrook Tennis Academy and Saint Leo.

"We are very excited about the addition of Fons Verberne to our coaching staff," Gaston said. "His strong passion for helping student-athletes excel on and off the court is something that stood out to me during this process and his experience in international recruiting and on-court coaching with St. Leo University's tennis program the past two seasons is something I feel will make an impact on our team right away."

''Joining a program such as Mizzou is something extraordinary," Verberne said. "Colt and Jen (Meredith) have done great work with the team, and I'm excited to be part of it. I believe the sky is the limit and am grateful for this opportunity.''

Most recently, Verberne was a served as the volunteer assistant coach for the men's tennis program at Saint Leo the past two seasons. In addition to his coaching duties with the Lions, he assisted with practice and conditioning plans, constructed player development and assisted with international recruiting.

Verberne also served as the full-time hitting partner of professional Salome Devidze and was a part-time coach at the Saddlebrook Tennis Academy, where he guided junior, ITF and Future's players.

The Helmond, Netherlands, native played at Saint Leo from 2013-16 and claimed All-Sunshine State Conference second team honors in singles in 2014. Verberne helped the Lions claim the Sunshine State Conference regular season and tournament titles and advance to the NCAA Division II national title match. Additionally, he reached as high as No. 82 in the men's Netherland's rankings.

Verberne graduated with a bachelor's in Sport Business from Saint Leo in 2015 and earned a Master of Business Administration from Saint Leo in 2018.