Aug. 31, 2007

Former WTA Top 100 touring professional Anousjka van Exel has been named assistant coach for the Baylor women's tennis program, Bears' head coach Joey Scrivano announced Friday.

"We are extremely excited to have Anousjka join our staff," Scrivano said. "Her wealth of experience from being a collegiate All-American, playing at the highest level in Grand Slam events, and coaching experience is going to be a great addition to our program."

"I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with an elite program like Baylor," van Exel said. "Being able to work with Coach Scrivano, who is well-known and well-respected among his athletes and fellow coaches, is a great start. Everyone here really wants to be successful and do well; that fits perfectly with my philosophy of always wanting to do your best."

Prior to joining the staff, van Exel was at Texas Woman's University where she is expected to graduate with her master's degree in exercise and sport nutrition in December. She also holds a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Tulsa University, where she graduated magna cum laude in 1999.

During van Exel's collegiate career, she was twice honored as the Western Athletic Conference player of the year (1998, 1999). In that two year span, van Exel also was named an NCAA All-American, an All-WAC First Team member in singles and doubles, an Academic All-WAC First Team member, an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Academic All-American, and was a GTE CoSida Academic All-America award recipient in 1999.

As a professional, van Exel played from 2001 to 2004; she competed on some of the biggest stages including the U.S. Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open. Most memorably, van Exel faced Martina Navratilova in front of a sold-out crowd at Wimbledon.

Van Exel also competed for the Netherlands as a member of her native lands Fed Cup team in 2003.