Men's Tennis Adds Two Newcomers for 2015
1/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
TULSA, Okla. - Men's Tennis Head Coach and Director of Tennis at the University of Tulsa, Vince Westbrook, has announced the signings of Mitchell Pritchard and Juan Matias Gonzalez as the newest members of the Golden Hurricane.
"I see both Mitch and Juan making an impact on the program immediately," said Westbrook. "Adding these two guys definitely changes our team for the better."
Pritchard is a freshman that came to TU from Nowra, Australia and is excited for the opportunity to play at TU.
"The facilities are amongst the best in the country," said Pritchard. "The tennis program here is second-to-none really. [Coming to Tulsa] seemed like the best option for me out of all of the colleges I was looking at. I really like the college and the city is really nice as well. I get along very well with my teammates, and I look forward to playing with them during my career at TU."
Pritchard has an ITA Junior's Ranking of 149 in the Under-18's age group, and has won three singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Circuit.
In the Pro-Circuit, Pritchard has been ranked as high as 1499. He picked up his first professional points in Sept. 2013. The freshman is looking to further his professional career before and after college.
"Mitch is a very solid player and is one of the best players to come out of Australia in a while --and we've had some good players come from there," said Westbrook. "He is getting used to everything, and I expect him to go through the typical freshman growing pains. He's a nice kid and is very competitive and is very deceptive in his game. He doesn't look overpowering, but is very solid off of the baseline. Mitch has a very good all-court game."
Gonzalez comes to Tulsa from Chile and arrived in Tulsa just this past weekend.
"I chose Tulsa because of the coaches," said Gonzalez. "I have talked to [Assistant Coach] Thomas for a while and I know Vince is a true professional. I already like Tulsa a lot. I have been able to make friends really quickly, and I knew Or [Ram-Harel] from before, which has been very helpful. What really makes Tulsa stand out over other schools is that the courts are unbelievable."
Gonzalez has an ITF Junior's Ranking of 407 in the Under-18 age group and has one singles and one doubles title in the ITF Circuit.
The South American native has decided to focus on the Pro-Circuit and improving his ranking. Gonzalez highest Pro-Circuit Ranking was 1037.
"We are excited to get Juan going here at TU," said Westbrook. "We have been working on getting him here for a long time and it feels good to finally get him to Tulsa. He has a lot of experience on the ITF Junior and Professional Circuit and he has played all over the world. Gonzalez wants to take his game to another level and he wants to use college to get him there. He's also a very smart kid and is excited to receive an education from Tulsa to fall back on when he's done playing."
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