Women's Tennis Adds Three Players on Signing Day
11/15/2019 10:10:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The Crimson Tide added Ann Marie Hiser, Sydney Orefice and Vanesa Nikolovova to the program
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Head Coach Jenny Mainz and assistant coach Jonatan Berhane added three players to the Alabama program on Wednesday afternoon. Anne Marie Hiser (Acworth, Ga.), Sydney Orefice (Milton, Ga.) and Vanesa Nikolovova (Litvinov, Czech Republic), will arrive to The Capstone in the 2020 fall season.
Ann Marie Hiser
Hiser attends North Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga., and is a two-time Paulding County Player of the year. She has been dominant with a 30-1 career singles record and has ranked as high as the No. 25 prospect in the Class of 2020 according to tennisrecruiting.net.
Other accomplishments for Hiser include finishing in fourth place in doubles at the 2019 National Hard Court Championships, while also being named the captain of Team Georgia and leading the team to an upset win in the 2019 Southern Cup with a 7-1 record. She was also the doubles champion and runner-up in singles at the 2019 Oracle/ITA Summer Circuit Tournament hosted by the University of Alabama. In addition, she has a career-best 11.0 UTR rating.
"We are looking forward to Anne Marie joining our Alabama Tennis Family," Mainz said. "She has a dynamic presence on the court and is a fierce competitor. She exemplifies the characteristics that define our Alabama team; strong leader, tremendous character and fiery competitor."
Vanesa Nikolovova
Nikolovova is ranked as the No. 1 player in the Czech National Juniors and Women's Rankings as well as having a career-best No. 108 singles ranking in the International Tennis Federation. She has finished runner-up at the G2 Pilsen tournament and the G4 Trnava and Prague events, while making it to the quarterfinals of the G1 Prague tournament. Furthermore, she made her way to the semifinals of the G2 Villach in Austria.
Nikolovova has had a highly decorated career prior to signing with Alabama, as she also played in the Fed Cup Juniors for the Czech Republic National Team in both winter and summer in 12U, 14U, 16U and 18U. She currently attends Stredni Soukroma Skola Pro Marketing in Litvinov, Czech Republic.
"Vanesa will be a great addition to our team," assistant coach Jonatan Berhane said. "She is focused, smart and adapts well in a team setting. She was one of the best junior players in Czech Republic as she held an ITF junior ranking of 108 and a UTR of 11.7. She moves well, thrives in competition and will never give up, which is the Bama way! We are excited to have Vanesa on our campus in August."
Sydney Orefice
Orefice attends Cambridge High School in Milton, Ga., and won the 2019 Female Spirit Tennis Sportsmanship Award at the DecoTurf High School Championships. Orefice led her high school team to two state championships, with the first coming in 2017 and the second in 2019. In 2018, the team finished as state finalists.
In doubles, Orefice finished as the state qualifier doubles champion in 2017 and 2018. In addition, she was a National L2 Doubles Champion, while also winning the 2018 Southern Doubles Championship.
"We're excited about the addition of Sydney to our Alabama Team," Mainz stated. "Sydney's strong work ethic, tremendous character and doubles experience will contribute to the Crimson Tide. She has a big upside and will bring a lot of energy and passion to our team."
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