CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Director of Tennis
Steve Moore has announced an elite recruiting haul for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with three women and a pair of men joining the Blue and Green.
On the women's side, the Islanders signed a trio of 10-UTR, 4-star recruits in Camille Townsend, Lucie Devier and Carolina Bulatovic.
A native of Coconut Creek, Fla., Townsend was ranked as high as No. 85 in the U.S. juniors rankings and is a four-star recruit. She is the seventh ranked player in the state of Florida and has climbed as high as 371 in the ITF world juniors rankings.
"Camille is such a great fit for the Islanders," Director of Tennis
Steve Moore said. "She is talented, wants to play professionally and is all about character and the team. She's been consistently in the top 100 of the US National Junior Rankings and on her official visit, she saw one of our toughest practices and immediately pulled me aside and told me she wanted to sign with the Islanders. I knew right then she was a great fit for this program."
Devier is another elite recruit, earning a 10-UTR and holding the National Doubles Title in her native France. She is currently ranked among the top 15 players in her age group and has played in the French National Championship for each of the past four years. Devier holds a -4/6 French ranking and has beaten members of the top 50 French National Women's Open Rankings.
"Lucie is the French National Champion in doubles and made the quarterfinals in the national singles tournament," said Moore. "She took official visits to several SEC schools and chose the Islanders for the team culture. I was incredibly proud when she told us she was choosing the Islanders for the team culture."
Bulatovic adds a third 10-UTR and 4-star recruit to the Islanders' class. A German native, Bulatovic has captured victories over top-45 ranked German juniors players and top-125 German National women's players.
"We are so excited about Carolina, she is another 10-UTR player that was highly recruited with a very strong German ranking," Moore said. "She was another four-star recruit and is tall, athletic and has tremendous talent and potential. What we liked most about Carolina was her character and humble team attitude. She is going to have a great career with the Islanders."
MEN ADD TWO
On the men's side, the Islanders hauled in a pair of talented prospects in Lars Bijsterbosch and David Ambrozic.
Bijsterbosch hails from The Netherlands where he is ranked No. 70 in singles and No. 38 in doubles on the senior circuit. A 13-UTR player, Blijsterbosch has climbed as high as No. 54 in singles and No. 29 in doubles, playing in six semifinals at the national senior level.
"Lars comes highly recommended to us from two of our top coaching contacts," said Moore. "He has done well in professional futures and is one of the highest ranked juniors in the Netherlands. He is a legit 13-UTR player. I will always remember our phone call with him and his dad where we talked about the discipline and tight ship of our team and how they immediately said they shared this value and felt we were the right fit."
Ambrozic adds a 12.5-UTR player as the Slovenian will join the Blue and Green in spring. Ambrozic is the national doubles champion in Slovenia has was ranked No. 2 in junior singles and No. 10 in senior singles. A member of the Slovenian Juniors National Team, Ambrozic has played a number professional futures.
"David was heavily recruited by several Big Ten schools," said Moore. "He is a 6-foot-5 lefty with big weapons who wants to play professional tennis. We love his attitude and work ethic."
Overall, the 2017 signees might be one of the top classes in Islanders history.
"I am so excited about the talent level and character of this group," Moore said. "These boys and girls are the future of our team and this is one of the most impressive signing classes we have ever had from both a talent and character perspective. The future is very bright and this is a great day to be an Islander."
