June 7, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Stefan Nikolic of Belgrade, Serbia, will join the Loyola Marymount men's tennis program this fall, Head Coach Nik DeVore announced Thursday. Nikolic joins newly-signed Johan Berhof of Sweden and Aris Andreasian of Glendale, Calif. as newcomers to the Lions' program.

Nikolic has enjoyed a top-5 ranking in Serbia his entire junior career and has extensive tournament experience, predominantly on clay.

"Stefan should really help us this year," DeVore said. "He is a very well-rounded player who is capable of grinding out points from the baseline or attacking the net. He has very good hands and a solid serve as well, which will help him develop quickly as a doubles player."

Nikolic trained at the Red Star Training Academy in Belgrade, where he had the opportunity to train with all of the top Serbian players, many of which are highly-ranked on the ATP Tour.

"Serbia is one of the hot beds for tennis right now, with numerous up-and-coming pro players, so signing Stefan should be very good for our program," DeVore said. "He has all of the tools, it will just be a matter of adapting to life as a student-athlete and college tennis player."

Nikolic, a strong student, plans to major in finance at LMU.

-GO LIONS-