Kansas tennis gets two during early signing period

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas tennis head coach Todd Chapman announces that the No. 1-ranked player in New York, Amber Policare, and Carla Pons Martorell, the overall No. 43-ranked women’s player in Spain, each signed National Letters of Intent (NLIs) during the early signing period.  

Policare,Amber Policarefrom Long Beach, New York, signed with the Jayhawks on Friday, November 11. The five-star signee is ranked No. 1 in New York by Tennisrecruiting.net and No. 2 in the Middle Atlantic region. Policare also earned the No. 1-ranking in the Eastern Section in 14’s and 16’s and under. Currently, she is the No. 27-ranked player in the United States in her class and has been ranked as high as No. 16 in the country.

“I chose Kansas because I believe both Coach Chapman and Coach (Caroline) Lilley not only really care about improving my type of game style, but also making me a better player and person,” said Policare. “I also believe this is a team whose future is so bright and the best years are just starting.”

PolicareAmber Policarewill graduate in December and make her way to Kansas to join the team for the spring 2017 season.

“Amber is a player we identified a couple years ago as someone we were really interested in and really liked her game style,” said Todd Chapman. “We recruited her very hard. Amber has a very aggressive all court game, but one of the things that attracted us to her was her ability to come forward and her ability to volley as well as she does at her age.

“We’re extremely happy that Amber decided in the early recruiting process last spring to commit to us. We’re really excited to have her on the team this spring and to start working with her. She’s an extreme competitor and really hates to lose. We think with her abilities and work ethic, her potential is limitless.”

Pons MartorellCarla Pons Martorellalso signed early with the Jayhawks and will join the team in the fall of 2017. Hailing from Oliva, Valencia, Spain, Pons Martorell is the No. 12-ranked player in the under-18 division of Spain.  In 2015, Pons Martorell was a semifinalist in singles and a finalist in doubles at the Spanish National Championship. Also that year, she was a finalist at the Spanish Team National Championship.

“Carla is an under the radar player,” said Chapman. “We think a lot of people missed the boat with her in recruiting. She’s a player we identified several months ago and getting to know her and traveling and watching her play – we decided she was not only a great person, but a player that would really help our team. We feel like her ability level is only getting better and she’s going to be a player that a lot of schools and a lot of people are thinking, ‘Where did she come from?’

“She has the ability to come in and help our team right away. Carla is more of a consistent ground stroke player at this point. We believe she has the ability to become an all court player. She’s a tenacious competitor. Carla is really fiery and gritty and that’s something we really like about her and something she will add to our team.”

Pons MartorellCarla Pons Martorellis looking forward to becoming a Jayhawk.

“I have chosen the University of Kansas for a variety of reasons,” Pons Martorell said. “First, for the very high quality of the university’s academics and field of study I am interested in. In addition to this, the tennis is so strong and I want to compete in the National Championships. The coaching staff is very sincere and I look forward to working with them.”

Chapman is excited to have both Policare and Pons Martorell join the Jayhawks.

“Personality wise, both of these girls are really going to add to the program and what we’re trying to achieve,” said Chapman. “It wasn’t just talent we were trying to add. You have to add to the culture of your program and we think both of these girls are exactly what the program needs. They’re both going to be players that are going to be great teammates and their futures are bright in our program.”

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