Nilsson's Incoming Freshmen Class Ranked #13 by TennisRecruiting.net
4/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
MALIBU, Calif. -- Pepperdine women's tennis head coach Per Nilsson has announced the signing of Luisa Stefani and Dzina Milovanovic to National Letters of Intent. The highly touted junior players will open their freshman campaigns in the fall of 2015.
The Waves' class received high acclaim on TennisRecruiting.net's annual list of top recruiting classes, ranking in at #13. While the top-25 list was dominated mostly by programs in one of the "Big Five" conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC), Pepperdine was one of just five mid-major teams -- along with Columbia, Harvard, Yale and Florida International -- to earn recognition. Additionally, the Waves were the second highest ranked team in the southwest region, behind only USC.
Nilsson, honored as the 2015 West Coast Conference Coach of the Year in his first season with the women's team in Malibu, has led the Waves to as high as #14 in the ITA rankings. Although the Waves graduated their top player in senior All-American Lorraine Guillermo, thanks in part to Nilsson's recruiting efforts, the team shouldn't skip a beat in 2015-16.
"Both Luisa and Dzina are the type of girls we are looking for, the type we want to represent Pepperdine," said Nilsson of his recruiting class. "They want to be at a place where they have every opportunity to succeed on and off the court. Luisa and Dzina both want to play tennis after college and felt Pepperdine was a place that will help them better reach those goals."
Stefani boasts quite the resume already. The Sao Paulo, Brazil native has ranked as high as #10 in the ITF World Junior rankings, and is currently listed at #22. Stefani has played in the juniors' tournament at all four Grand Slams. Most recently, she reached the second round of the French Open Juniors' Tournament and will be playing again at Wimbledon later this month.
The Brazilian represented her country at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Stefani reached the quarterfinals alongside compatriot Orlando Luz in the mixed doubles bracket.
Stefani comes to Pepperdine from Saddlebrook Preparatory School in Florida, where she'll graduate as Salutatorian.
"I chose Pepperdine because I believe the surroundings, coaching staff, tennis and academic programs are the best fit for me in order to reach my personal goals," said Stefani. "I'm excited to become a Wave and find success both in the classroom and on the tennis court."
Milovanovic, a native of Serbia, has ranked as high as #111 in the ITA World Junior rankings. The southpaw has posted a 44-31 singles record throughout her international juniors career to go along with 16 doubles victories.
"Dzina is a really exciting prospect with lots of potential to become a great player," commented Nilsson. "She's been very focused academically and has not played in as my tournaments as the elite players. It's going to be fun to see her game develop in our program."
