CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Four new faces are set to join the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis team. The quartet features a pair from South Africa with prospects from Australia and Japan also signing.
The Islanders' 2017 signings include twins Francois and Okkie Kellerman, who transfer to the Island from Tulsa. The pair of South African natives have spent the past two years at Tulsa, where they were members of the Golden Hurricane's top 25 squad in 2015-16.
The Kellerman twins paired together to reach the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) regional semifinals in doubles play. Both Kellerman twins carry International Tennis Federation (ITF) with Francois reaching as high as 96 and Okkie climbing to 191. Francois also has a pair of ATP points and a professional world ranking.
Joining the Kellerman twins in the 2017 signing class are Daiki Tanabe and Kyohei Yamanaka.
A force on the Australian juniors circuit, Tanabe has consistently ranked among the top 12 players in the country. Tanabe also boasts seven wins against players with a 13 UTR or higher.
Yamanaka also ranks as one of the top juniors in his native Japan. The incoming Islander holds an ITF world juniors ranking along with his success on the Japanese juniors circuit.
"We worked very hard to find players that have an elite level to maintain the tradition of this team," said Director of Tennis
Steve Moore. "That being said, we also passed over many with that level of talent to find players with the combination of tennis, character, discipline and commitment to the team concept that make a good fit with Islanders and our team-first, blue-collar and disciplined mentality. We're very excited about the future of Islanders tennis and are ready to get to work."
