Women's tennis coach Nancy Harris reloads with trio of international recruits

With her program firmly entrenched among the nation’s elite, Clemson women’s tennis coach Nancy Harris has signed a next-step signing class of three that promises to keep Clemson in the national title hunt for the foreseeable future.

The international trio signed by Harris during the early signing period includes one player who will join the Tigers in January and will compete during the spring, 2012 season, and two who will enroll next August and compete as freshmen in 2012-13.

The players include Romy Koelzer, from Betzdorf, Germany; Jessy Rompies, from Jakarta, Indonesia; and Yui Lynn Miao, from Taichung City, Taiwan.

Koelzer graduated from high school earlier this year and will enroll at Clemson next month. She chose Clemson after taking official visits to Miami, Tennessee, Oklahoma and NC State.

Harris expects her to compete immediately for spot in Clemson’s playing lineup, which now includes two seniors, a junior, two sophomores and three freshmen.

“Romy brings enthusiasm, strong team spirit and commitment,” said Harris. “She will strengthen an already strong team chemistry for success. Romy is a talented and aggressive baseliner, and is excited to be Clemson Tiger.”

Rompies has an impressive resumé, which includes a semifinals run at the US Open Doubles juniors with current Tiger freshman Beatrice Gumulya, who is also a native of Indonesia.

Rompies also advanced to the doubles quarterfinals at the French Open juniors, and is also a two-time champion of the Asian/Oceania World Junior Doubles Championships. She has rankings as high as No. 413 in the world in singles and 253rd in doubles.

“Jessy is a solid all court player bringing strong international experience at the junior world class level,” said Harris.

Yui “Ani” Lynn Miao is the former No. 1 junior in Taiwan, and has a top-10 women’s open ranking in her country. She played on the Taiwan Junior National Team, and represented Taiwan in the Senior Fed Cup in 2011. She currently attends Taichung National Physical Education University, and will transfer to Clemson.

“Ani is versatile and a fighter,” said Harris “She has tenacity and a strong will to win. She is a team player and her strong will to succeed will serve her well on the court and in the classroom.”

Koelzer will join a 2012 Clemson team that features four returning nationally-ranked players. Seniors Josipa Bek and Keri Wong are ranked 8th and 32nd, respectively, in singles, while junior Nelly Ciolkowski is ranked 83rd and sophomore Klara Vyskocilova 98th. Bek and Wong – last year’s NCAA runners-up- were also ranked No. 1 nationally in doubles throughout the fall season.

Also competing for spots in the lineup will be sophomore Monika Kochanova and freshman Gumulya. Another freshman, Yana Koroleva, will sit out the 2012 spring season.

Two players have transferred to other schools since last season – junior Caroline Magnusson to Tulane and sophomore Masha Belaya to William & Mary.

The Tigers have reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in five consecutive seasons and seven of the past eight seasons, and advanced to the Final Eight of the ITA Team Indoor Championships last season.