ROCK HILL, SC – Winthrop head coach Cid Carvalho has announced the addition of three players to the 2010-11 men's and women's tennis rosters.
The men's team picked up one freshman, while the women's team will receive a freshman and a transfer. The men's squad adds Yuta Hirokawa, a Japanese native who attended American Heritage School in Boca Raton, FL, while the new women's players are Julia Breuss, a native of Austria and a transfer from Eastern Michigan, and Andressa Garcia from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Even though Hirokawa is the only recruit for the Eagles,his talents are rated so highly that he gives Winthrop the 24th best recruiting class among all NCAA mid-major schools, according to tennisrecruiting.com. Hirokawa has playing experience in the Carribbean where he was the doubles champion in the 2009 Barbados Junior International Tennis Tournament. His best finish in singles came in the ITF Jamaican Junior Tournament where he was a semifinalist
"We are very happy to have Yuta joining our program this year,” Carvalho said. “He is a very good all around player with a strong work ethic and will make an immediate impact in our lineup."
The women's team added some more depth to already talented lineup that won the Big South Tournament last season.
Breuss is transferring to Winthrop after playing one season for the Eastern Michigan Eagles. She ranks in the Top 10 in Austria for players under 18 and in the top 25 in all of Austria. Last year at Eastern Michigan, she was an ITA Scholar Athlete.
"Julia is a very good all court player who already has one year of high level collegiate experience, playing number 1 for Eastern Michigan last season,” said Carvalho. “She will help our team to continue to improve in the national rankings."
Garcia has played in 11 WTA Main Draw events, and she reached the quarterfinals for singles in the Condor de Plata Tournament. Coach Carvalho is very excited about Garcia and what she can bring to the team.
"Andressa is a very strong player with all the tools to play at the highest Division 1 level." Carvalho stated.
Both the Winthrop men and women are looking to defend their Big South Conference titles next spring. Both teams advanced to the NCAA Regional Tournament at Tennessee while the Winthrop women's team finished 64th nationally in the final 2010 ITA rankings.
