Spring Break
Recruiting style helps tennis win
Foreign connections bring players
Nick Hunte
Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: Sports
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The cycle of Sac State's tennis department recruiting international players started when Tennis Director Bill Campbell came to Sac State 11 years ago as head coach of the women's tennis. He became the director for both teams in 2007.
When Campbell started coaching at Sac State in 1999, there were only four requests for scholarships, mainly consisting of low-level high school players. One of the players was Caroline Svensson from Sweden.
Ever since 1999, not only has Sac State's record improved year-after-year, connections started to form and Svensson introduced Campbell to other Swedish players. This started a trend of Swedish players coming onto Sac State's roster over the years.
"The trend of international players coming to Sac State started from Caroline and it has helped us tremendously," Campbell said.
Since Campbell took over in '99, the team went from 1-15 in '99 to 17-8 this year. The Hornets have also won the Big Sky Championships every year since 2002.
Another player, Marta Gronowicz, called Campbell out of the blue because she was slated to go to Nebraska University but her scholarship to that school was turned down at the last minute. Gronowicz went on to defeat Nebraska's No. 2 player the following year.
Today, the team now has about 380 requests for scholarships since Sac State is ranked among the top-75 schools for tennis in the nation.
Recruiting players for the women's tennis team mainly consists of scouting players by watching videos of them or watching them in person at tournaments.
"It is a long process to recruit players," Campbell said. "It all comes down to decision making and good judgment when choosing players who you want on your team."
Head coach Dima Hrynaska is very well respected in his home country of Belarus and has coached the 14-under boys and girls' national team of tennis in 2003. In that same year he guided the 14-under girls team to win the world championships.
Hrynaska has gone back to Belarus over the past two summers and talked to former students he has coached in the past. Most of those students have shown interest in playing for him again at Sac State and he helps them come to Sac State through scholarships.
"I try to help new players come to Sac State any way I can," said Hrynaska
Freshman Maria Meliuk played for Hrynaska back in Belarus and wanted to come to Sac State so she can play for him again.
"I've always enjoyed playing with him and I still do today," Meliuk said.
Some of the players on the current roster came to Sac State through connections as well. Freshman Clarisse Baca came to Sac State because she is a friend of senior Joyce Martinez Gutierrez, who she has played with since childhood in Mexico.
"I've played with Joyce for a long time, that's why I came to Sac State," Baca said. "I also think Sac State has good education and I like the city of Sacramento, so it was a perfect fit."
One area that has been a struggle for the players does not actually have to do with their tennis game, but more so of English being their second language.
"We're all foreign and that actually made it easier to bond with each other," said sophomore Melissa Valenzuela. "We understood each other."
The trend of foreign players has been a winning formula for Sac State and because of that, many of the nation's top college tennis players want to play for the Hornets, which explains the 380 requests for scholarships.
"Tennis players want to play for a good school and we are among them," Campbell said.
Nick Hunte can be reached at nhunte@statehornet.com
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