UCSB men’s tennis signs top JC player in the country

UCSB men’s tennis has signed Mbonisi Ndimande, the top junior college singles player in the country, to a National Letter of Intent, head coach Marty Davis announced Monday.
 
Ndiamande, a native of Zimbabwe, is completing his second year at Seminole State Community College in Oklahoma. At one point, he reached a World Junior ITF ranking of 52 and he is currently ranked No. 1 in the national junior college ranks in singles.  As a freshman in 2009-10, Ndiamande hit No. 1 in the doubles rankings.  
 
“Mbo is a proven winner and a mature, versatile player with great balance and an outstanding doubles record,” said UCSB head coach Marty Davis. “In addition, he is a really positive, good natured young man with outstanding character traits.  Mbo is going to be a wonderful addition to our tennis program and community.”
 
Ndiamande has played in both the Wimbledon and Australian Open junior singles championships and in 2009, he represented Zimbabwe in Davis Cup competition.  He was also a finalist in the African Junior Championships in 2008.
 
While Ndiamande is a native of Zimbabwe, he graduated from Clapham High School in Pretoria, South Africa.  He helped to lead his school to a No. 1 ranking in South Africa in each of his final two seasons.
 
The addition of Ndimande to the early signing class of Greg Scott and Ziad Sultan, brings the 2011 Gaucho recruiting class to three.
 
“As a whole, this may be the Gauchos’ strongest recruiting class in the last decade,” Davis said.  “The pundits had ranked our recruiting class as one of the top-25 in the nation before the addition of Mbo.  I can hardly express how excited I am to have players of this quality joining us next season.”
 
UCSB will graduate four seniors – Philip Therp, Alex Konigsfeldt, Taylor Chavez-Goggin and Evan Jurgensen – from this year’s team.