SAVANNAH, Ga. - Savannah State University's tennis team has international appeal with three players from Iceland, Kazakhstan and Serbia, and three others from the United States.
 
“I'm trying to have diversity,” said sixth-year head coach Don Andrews, whose Tigers began their season Friday with a 6-1 win against Albany State on SSU's tennis courts near Tiger Arena.
 
SSU lost three players from last season's team, which finished 3-13 overall and 0-6 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Four players returned and are joined by two newcomers.
 
SSU's four returners are No. 1 singles player Sandra Kristjansdottir, a 5-foot-7 junior from Kopavogur, Iceland; No. 3 singles player Esmira Gheisary, a 5-foot-7 senior from Almaty, Kazakhstan; No. 5 singles player Davita Washington, a 5-foot-3 senior from Westlake High School in Atlanta; and No. 4 singles player Nicole Ashiedu, a 5-foot-6 sophomore from Douglas County High School in Douglasville, Ga.
 
The newcomers are No. 2 singles player Andrea Pavlovic, a 5-foot-9 junior from Belgrade, Serbia, and No. 6 singles player Tiffany Williams, a 5-foot-9 freshman from Mount De Sales High School in Macon.
 
Kristjansdottir and Ashiedu are the Tigers' No. 1 doubles team followed by No. 2 Gheisary and Pavlovic, and No. 3 Washington and Williams.
 
Andrews said recruiting foreign players is a trend he will continue to follow because “I would say 98 percent of the teams that we play in Division I are foreign players,” he said. “(College tennis) has drastically changed. To be competitive, I'm going to have to do what the competition does to a degree.”
 
Lack of depth could hurt
With only six players, Andrews said SSU cannot afford injuries. He said the Tigers must have at least four players to compete.
 
“Tennis is not an injury-prone sport but I'm keeping my fingers crossed,” Andrews said. “I had quite a few players that had led me to believe that they were coming (to SSU). I went to Atlanta and I went to a high school match, and I talked to the coach, and sometimes they tell you one thing and it's not what they end up doing. I had it set up to have 10 players and four players just didn't come like they led me to believe they would.”
 
Andrews, who has been teaching tennis professionally since 1967, came to SSU after 11 years (1995-2006) as a tennis pro at The Landings in Savannah. He also was a private instructor for the Richmond Hill High School tennis team from 1999-2007, and his teams advanced to the state semifinals seven times.
 
SSU will lose three players to graduation at the end of this season: seniors Gheisary and Washington, and junior Kristjansdottir, who will graduate after only three years of college.
 
“I will definitely have at least eight to 10 next year,” Andrews said. “I'll look into it a lot deeper. I learned a lot last year. When they say they're coming, don't believe them until they show up.”
 
Andrews said SSU has three-and-a-half scholarships to offer this season “but we can push it into four because of the two HOPE scholarships we have.” Ashiedu and Williams are HOPE scholarship recipients.
 
Great expectations
Andrews said he expects SSU to beat Albany State in the Tigers' season opener Friday.
“That doesn't mean we're going to win it,” he said, laughing. “Because you never know what the opponents have. Alabama State thought they were going to beat us and we beat them 7-0 last year.” The Tigers also earned victories on the road against MEAC opponents Maryland Eastern Shore and Coppin State.
 
One of the bigger-name opponents on SSU's schedule this season is the University of Pittsburgh, which will travel to Savannah to play the Tigers at 10 a.m. on March 13.
 
“That's a pretty big coup to get a Big East team to come to our campus,” Andrews said.
The MEAC tournament, which South Carolina State won last season, will be April 19-21 in Raleigh, N.C.
 
Andrews said his Tigers made tremendous strides during fall practices. He attributes his players' overall skill level, which has risen, with sparking more competitiveness during practices and benefiting each player.
 
“Our team is so much better this year,” he said. “There is no comparison. It's a world of difference.”
 
Variety of skills
Kristjansdottir discovered SSU while visiting a friend, who played tennis for Savannah College of Art and Design.
 
“While she came down from Iceland to see her friend at SCAD she came over to talk to me,” Andrews said. “I encouraged her to come to Savannah State and she did.”
 
Kristjansdottir, who transferred from Commercial College of Iceland, is an SSU co-captain.
 
“The thing that makes Sandra so good is she has no weaknesses,” Andrews said. “She's got a good forehand, a good backhand, a good overhead, a good serve. And she's also, when it counts, she's got that mental toughness. She's got that X-factor. And you don't know if they've got it until they show up.”
 
Pavlovic discovered SSU via the Internet.
 
“I got that contact from just kind of a blind email,” Andrews said. “A lot of them were sent out. I answered it and I started talking with her father. I must have impressed him because he got his daughter involved.”
 
Pavlovic transferred from St. Bonaventure University in New York. She had 14 victories last season as a sophomore, seven apiece at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles.
 
“She overpowers the ball,” Andrews said. “She can hit pinpoint shots. If she needs to hit the ball in a small area in the corner, she can hit it. And she can hit two first serves. Her second serve can be just as good as her first serve. And she gets it in. She doesn't double fault very much. She plays a complete court. She can do it all. She can play the baseline, she can play the net, she's got a drop shot that she can utilize.”
 
Gheisary transferred from Eastern Kentucky University. She reached No. 7 in the 2008 Kazakhstan singles rankings.
 
“I went to a meeting (in Savannah) where a lot of foreign players were and I spoke,” Andrews said. “She came up and, later on, she contacted me and came to play for Savannah State.”
 
Perhaps Gheisary's greatest asset is her versatility.
 
“Esmira is dogged. She will adjust,” Andrews said. “She'll try to pound away, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and if she sees that she's not winning she'll change it. She'll change the pace up. Some players love pace. Some players don't like pace. Her big strength is that she can adjust. She doesn't have to play one way.”
 
Ashiedu has unlimited potential, Andrews said.
 
“Nicole was a big recruit that everybody wanted to come to their school,” Andrews said. “We've got a lot of promise with her. She is now a sophomore and she's beginning to do quite well. I'm continuing to expect her to get better and better.”
 
Andrews said Ashiedu will become more polished as she gains experience at the collegiate level.
 
“She needs to work on concentration,” Andrews said. “She'll go through a period of hitting incredible shots and winning four games, five games in a row, and then boom, she'll lose two or so games in a row. It's all her ability to stay concentrated and not let distractions come in.
 
“She's already improved this past fall. I just can't talk enough about Nicole. This is her second season. I think four matches from now, what she'll learn in these four matches, and what she learned last fall, she'll put together and be a much better tennis player.”
 
Washington, a co-captain, has been in SSU's program for four years.
 
“She came when the program was still in that infancy stage,” Andrews said. “She is real smart. She can outsmart her opponent. If Davita has a chance, she'll win. A lot of the times she'll be playing players who just aren't going to give her a chance. These players that she's going to play are going to be players that have been playing since they were 3 years old. And Davita really got into tennis when she got to Savannah State.”
 
Williams selected SSU after Andrews drove to Macon to watch her play.
 
“When the match was over, I told her that we had a place on Savannah State's tennis team for her and she was thrilled,” Andrews said. “So she came down and that's how I got her.”