UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Men’s tennis head coach Jeff Zinn announced that two elite recruits have joined his inaugural recruiting class Tuesday (May 1). Matthew Barry (Long Beach, N.Y) and Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) have signed their National Letters of Intent and will begin their Penn State careers in the 2012-13 season.
Barry comes to Penn State as a five-star recruit according Tennisrecruiting.net. He has climbed as high as No. 46 in the junior career rankings and received All-State honors for his stellar play. The New York native served as co-captain and MVP of his Long Beach High School tennis team for the past three seasons. He won the Nassau County, N.Y. doubles championship and placed third in the state in doubles as a sophomore and also reached the semifinals in numerous Eastern Sectionals tournaments. Barry has also been crowned the doubles champion at the Boys 18’s National Open and participated in the National Clay Court Championships in Fla. and National Hard Court Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. for the past three years.
"Signing Matt was big for us," said Zinn. "It gives us legitimacy as a growing program. Matt’s intensity and desire to win will translate into success at Penn State. We are excited to have him and look forward to him getting out on the court for us."
Trkulja became Zinn’s second prized recruit to sign with the Nittany Lions when he inked his letter of intent during the spring semester.
"Roman has played and trained with the best junior players in the world," said Zinn. "He trained at the National Tennis Center in Canada with Milos Raonic (currently No. 24 in the world) and defeated a top-five ITF junior in 2011. We anticipate that he will bring a lot of energy and make a positive impact on our program."
Trkulja, a Canadian national team member since 2009 brings an impressive resume to Happy Valley. He is a two-time Canadian national champion with championships in singles and doubles play. The Canadian native also boasts three ITF doubles championships, three Ontario Provisional singles championships, four Ontario Provisional doubles championships, and was a doubles National finalist four times. Trkulja also claims numerous wins over top-100 competition.
Penn State will now look forward to the start of the 2012-13 season. Fall tournament play will get underway in September as the Nittany Lions look to build upon early season success in Zinn’s second season as head coach.