Clemson Women’s Tennis Signs Two in 2011 Class

June 1, 2011

CLEMSON, SC – Head Women’s Tennis Coach Nancy Harris announced the signing of two student-athletes for the 2011 freshman class on Wednesday. Beatrice Gumulya of Indonesia and Yana Koroleva of Russia will join the Tigers in the fall.

“We are very excited about these two players,” said Head Coach Nancy Harris. “We think they can play close to the top of the lineup as freshmen based on their experience. We are really delighted that they chose Clemson over so many great schools, very much thanks to the work of my assistant coach, Scott Kidd. It gets us to a higher level, adding much stronger depth to the current lineup. The more competitive experience they have as juniors, the quicker they get used to college tennis. The ACC has gotten so much strong, and these two players certainly meet these expectations.”

The Clemson women’s tennis team, who closed the season at 21-11 and advanced to a fifth straight NCAA Sweet 16, ended the season ranked 14th in the Final Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Women’s National Team Rankings.

Koroleva is an interesting prospect from Moscow, Russia, that earned a ranking as high as 385th in the world in 2010 by the WTA singles rankings, and is currently among the top 500 players in the world. She has shown the ability to win on many court surfaces, but has excelled in hard court. She has reached the finals in several events, and has ITF tournament experience all over the world. Koroleva will not be new to South Carolina, as she played in ITF events in Sumter and Hilton Head in 2009.

Gumulya, who was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, brings strong experience in both singles and doubles, and reached a career-high ITF singles world ranking of 755th in June of 2010, and an ITF Junior World Ranking of 22nd. She was 375th in the world in doubles in late 2009 as well. Gumulya has a strong family background in tennis, and has pair with her sister, Sandy in several doubles tournaments. She also reached the semifinals of the juniors doubles championships at the 2008 US Open and 2009 Australian Open.

“Beatrice has tremendous experience, getting to the US Open and Australian Open juniors semifinals. When we can attract these types of players, it helps us in the US and around the world.”

Clemson loses just one player to graduation in Laurianne Henry. Monika Kochanova will also be eligible after her redshirt season this year, giving the Tigers three new faces.