Laura Claus

Class: Junior Hometown: Wiesbaden, Germany High School: Gutenberg Gymnasium Wiesbaden

Height: 5-9 Birthdate: 06/06/1990 Experience: 2V

Sophomore ('10-'11): Led the team with a 24-6 overall singles record, including a 20-4 dual singles mark playing primarily at No. 3... Was selected as a first-team All-WCC honoree in singles and honorable mention in doubles with partner Josymar Escalona... Set a new career-long singles winning streak by winning 16 straight matches to finish the season... Won all three of her singles contests at the WCC Championships in the helping the Toreros finish second behind Pepperdine... Defeated UNLV's Nives Pavlovic 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the NCAA Team Championships, helping USD earn a 4-2 victory... Posted a 7-1 record against WCC opponents on the year... Was named WCC Player of the Month in doubles with Escalona for the month of February... Was a preseason All-WCC selection and a 2011 spring WCC first-team All-Academic pick after earning a 3.93 GPA... Was also named to the WCC Commissioner's Honor Roll and an ITA Scholar Athlete.

Freshman '09-'10: Earned a starting role in the dual singles lineup at the No. 2 slot... Garnered a dual singles mark of 13-11 all at No. 2, while being the only Torero to compete in that position... Captured an overall dual doubles record of 15-10, posting her best mark of 12-4 at No. 3 alongside senior Justine Perl... Named to the All-WCC Second Team for singles... Received Honorable Mention for doubles with Perl... Helped the Toreros to a third place finish at the WCC Championships by earning singles victories over Kristina Zauere of Gonzaga (6-4, 6-0) and Kelly Lamble of Santa Clara (6-1, 6-3)... Also pocketed two tandem wins with Perl over the pairings of Sophie Lantta and Jackie Tabb (8-5) from Gonzaga and Andrea Oates and Tania Rice (8-3) from Pepperdine... During the fall, competed in the SDSU Fall Classic I.

High School/Prep: Attended Gutenberg Gymnasium Wiesbaden in Germany... Competed on high school team that was runner-up at the German Teams Competition... Made it to the quarterfinals of the German Junior Championships as a 16 year-old... Won a variety of German state titles throughout her junior career... Achieved a No. 13 ranking among all German juniors and No. 88 among all German women.

Personal: Born June 6, 1990 in Mainz, Germany to parents Dr. Dieter and Dr. Elisabeth Aust-Claus... Has a younger brother, Felix, who is 18 years-old... Father, Dieter, is a psychiatrist specializing in mental disorders and mother, Elisabeth, specializes in treating ADHD... She is interested in how the human mind works... Aspires to be a consultant for firms after graduating from USD... Enjoys painting, drawing, watching musicals, and visiting art galleries in her free time... Started playing tennis at age five... Also played field hockey as a child... Points to her making it to the quarterfinals of the German Junior Championships at only 16 years-old as one of her career highlights... Enjoys working hard and seeing the results pay off personally and for the team... Likes being able to balance school and tennis in the United States, which is hard to do in Germany... Also recruited by Northwestern University, USF, and Florida State... Chose to attend USD because of the reputation of the coaching staff as well as the academics.

"The spirit that is involved when we play as a team and the feeling that everyone would give everything to their teammates to win and pursue the goals that we are all sharing is incredible."

Major: Psychology; Business Administration

Laura's Career Singles Records

Laura's Career Doubles Records

Claus was a first-team All-WCC selection in singles in 2011.