College tennis: Foreign players give their sport a unique flavor

MIDLAND Baylor junior Karolina Filipiak doesn’t remember if the Web site was the NCAA’s or some other tennis site, but she stumbled upon Baylor as she was surfing the net in 2006, browsing American universities that might let her come from Poland to play tennis.

“I was just picking the top 10 schools,” she said. “I sent an e-mail to Baylor, they responded and they liked my results and it happened.”

At the 10th Annual Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational this weekend hosted by the Racquet Club, many of the names from the big programs from across the country come from different countries.

And each one has a story of how he found his school.

Unlike Filipiak, Baylor assistant coach Anda Perianu did not conduct her own Internet search — her then-boyfriend did. He found Oklahoma and Perianu came from Romania to become a two-time Big 12 Conference Player of the Year before joining the Baylor coaching staff.

“But I always wanted to come (to the U.S.),” she said.

Andrea Oates, a sophomore at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., is from Pretoria, South Africa, and her decision was aided by a longtime friend who played for the Waves men’s team.

“He told me what it’s like, the amazing school,” Oates said. “He helped convince me.”

Nebraska sophomore Madeleine Geibert, from Germany, had not given much thought to playing tennis in the U.S. until a Nebraska coach approached her at a tournament in Germany.

Nebraska assistant coach Hayden Perez — an Abilene High graduate — said the pitch is partly about giving an option. In many non-U.S. countries, higher education institutions do not offer scholarship athletics, so playing here is a way for them to complete their education and play the game they love.

Perez makes recruiting stops to Germany, Switzerland and Finland — wherever the talent is.

“I have Rosetta Stone (a language-learning program) in my computer right now,” he said.

Texas Tech freshman Raphael Pfister, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, had interest from many colleges, he said, but chose Tech partly because of the number of his countrymen already with the Red Raiders.

“There are four Brazilians on the team,” he said. “It makes you miss home a little less.”

Tech assistant coach Marcelo Ferreira discovered Pfister the same way he was discovered as a Brazilian player who went on to play at Georgia College & State University.

There is a company in Brazil, Ferreira said, that serves as a go-between for Brazilian players and American college coaches to find the best fit.

It is a valuable service, Ferreira said, and in these days of aggressive recruiting, it is almost a necessity.

“Sometimes you run into coaches recruiting the same players,” Ferreira said. “But that’s how it is. Tennis has a lot of international recruiting.”

>> The Basics

Racquet Club Invitational

Sunday's Semifinals (9 a.m.)

- WOMEN'S SINGLES - 

Jelena Stanivuk, Baylor, vs. Ali Walters, Pepperdine

Mary Weatherholt, Nebraska, vs. Nazari Urbina, Texas A&M

- MEN'S SINGLES - 

Bruno Rosa, Rice, vs. Oscar Podlewski, Rice

Josh Zavala, Texas, vs. Andrei Daescu, Oklahoma