FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2006

MSSU announces tennis signee for 2006-07

JOPLIN, Mo. - Missouri Southern State University head women's tennis coach Jane Posch has announced a new addition for the team.

Elissa McKinley, from Rochelle, Ill., has inked with the Lions and will join the squad beginning with the 2006-07 season.

McKinley, who attended Rochelle Township High School, was a three-year starter in tennis for the Hubs of coach Mike Pence. A three-time sectional qualifier, McKinley helped her No. 2 doubles team to a first-place finish at the Guilford Tournament and Rochelle Tournaments and second-place showings at the NCIC and Harlem tourneys.

McKinley was also a four-year starter as a midfielder for the RTHS girls soccer team. She was an honorable mention all-conference soccer player and won the team's sportsmanship award three times.

The daughter of William and Nicole McKinley, she hopes to study criminology at Missouri Southern.

Missouri Southern's women's tennis team finished the 2005-06 season as the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association runner-up and advanced to the NCAA Division II Round of 16 with a pair of North Central Region victories. It marked the second time in three years for the Lions to advance to the NCAA tournament.