Ferris State Men's Tennis Bolsters Lineup With Four High-Caliber Additions
Big Rapids, Mich. - Ferris State University men's tennis head coach Chad Berryhill, who recently completed his first season at the helm by leading the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament, has announced his first recruiting class.
Berryhill added four student-athletes who will begin their FSU collegiate careers during the 2013-14 campaign. They include a pair of international products in Roger Hernandez (Longueuil, Quebec) and Connor Douglas (Toronto, Ontario) in addition to two out-of-state additions in James Trevino (Tipp City, Ohio) and Hayden Cramer (Colorado Springs, Colo.).
"We're extremely excited about their additions and believe they have a bright future in our program as we contend for conference championships and NCAA berths," said Berryhill. "All four have highly-successful tennis backgrounds and we're looking forward to having them in our program this coming fall."
A 2012 graduate of Jacques-Rousseau High School in Longueuil, Quebec, Hernandez competed most recently at a junior college-type level this past year at Champlain College St. Lambert. He was among the top 10 ranked players in Canada in the under 18 category, including one of the top five tennis players in Quebec. Hernandez finished sixth in the under 18 age group at the All-Canadian Indoor Championships and was seventh at the outdoor championships.
A winner of the Provincial Junior Quebec Championships in both singles and doubles competition, Hernandez claimed the Senior Quebec Championship and won a national doubles title. He's a two-time national doubles finalist, an eight-time provincial champion and has also been a national finalist on the singles circuit.
Meanwhile, the 6-5 Douglas is also a highly-regarded competitor and ranked provincially and nationally as a junior. He's won four provincial tournaments and recently beat one of Canada's top 15-ranked junior in straight-sets while playing in the national selections. He's a two-time junior club champion and has trained with Greg Novak, a former number one player at Michigan, along with Casey Curtis, who previously coached Canadian professional player Milos Raonic for seven years.
Douglas, who plans to major in FSU's highly-acclaimed Professional Tennis Management (PTM) program, is a multi-sport athlete who was a podium finisher in the city cross country championships along with a competitive hockey player before choosing tennis as his sole focus two years ago.
Trevino ranks among Ohio's top 10 prep players according to Tennisrecruiting.net and has been listed high nationally by the same service. Currently, he's the 89th-ranked player in the under 18 age group in the Midwest Region and was a midwest level four doubles champion last summer. A state qualifier, he's also placed among the top participants at both the district and state tournaments in prep action throughout his career. Trevino has also been successful academically with a near-perfect mark in high school.
Finally, Cramer currently resides in Colorado Springs and previously attended Nordhoff High School in Ojai, Calif. A 2010 state prep doubles champion, he ranked among the top 100 players in California's 18's division. Cramer has trained at the well-renowed Weil Tennis Academy and been ranked among the top 500 players in the country according to tennisrecruiting.net.
Ferris State posted a 16-6 overall record in Berryhill's first campaign this past season. The Bulldogs also made their 18th overall NCAA Division II Tournament appearance where they reached the Midwest Regional final.
In 2012-13, the Bulldogs earned runner-up honors at the 2013 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament and were ranked as high as second in the region.