Katie Kim to Join Pirates in 2014-15
6/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
June 13, 2014
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall tennis team has added yet another highly-touted player to a roster looking to continue the momentum created by a successful 2013-14 campaign as Katie Kim (Honolulu, Hawaii) has signed on to join the squad beginning next fall.
The addition of Kim, one of the most polished and accomplished junior players within the Aloha State ranks, further extends the wide-ranging reach of a program whose roster includes players hailing from Canada, Latvia, New Hampshire, Russia, Sweden, and Texas.
"We are tremendously excited to be able to welcome Katie to our team as we continue to re-shape our program with an eye on building upon the progress we have made in recent years," said head coach Greg Wyzykowski. "Katie is a multi-talented player with a strong work ethic who is no stranger to playing against high-level competition. Adding her to our existing roster will only make us that much deeper on both the singles and doubles courts."
Throughout a tennis career that dates back to the age of six, Kim has long been one of the premier prospects in her native Hawaii. On the United States Tennis Association (USTA) circuit, she enjoyed an extended run as the top-ranked player in her age group within the Hawaii Pacific section, representing the region at the USTA Winter Nationals on numerous occasions.
At the USTA National Team Championships last summer, Kim strung together four impressive singles victories without a loss, a run that began with a comeback win over Emma Davis - one of the top-30 players in the class of 2015 according to TennisRecruiting.net. Less than a month later, she paired with Sarah Dvorak to take home the doubles title at the Hawaii State Junior Championships.
Her prowess was not confined to the junior scene however as over three varsity seasons at the Punahou School, Kim established herself as both a singles and doubles force with the highlight coming in the form of a doubles state championship victory in 2012.
In the same mold as three-time All-BIG EAST performer Chloe Sher who received the Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) as a junior and became the first Seton Hall student-athlete to garner the BIG EAST Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award shortly after her graduation last month, the Honolulu product has also routinely been recognized for her approach to competition.
In three consecutive years, she was chosen as the recipient of the Sportsmanship Award at the USTA Hilo Fall Sectional Tournament and during her state championship season at Punahou, Kim was the winner of the school's Mike MacKinnon Tennis Award for Fighting Spirit and Sportsmanship.
"Our team has worked extremely hard to establish a culture where there are high expectations both on and off the court," added Wyzykowski. "Katie is certainly someone who fits the profile of the type of well-rounded individual we look to bring in and I am confident she will help strengthen our program's identity as one that is committed to both academic and athletic excellence."
Kim is the third announced newcomer for the upcoming campaign, joining Marisa Quevedo (Tyler, Texas) and Luize Liva Strike (Riga, Latvia) who will also be entering their first year of collegiate competition. The trio will help round out a squad that also includes seniors Anna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia) and Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) as well as juniors Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) and Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) who was an All-BIG EAST honoree in 2014, her first season with the Pirates.
