June 7, 2012

Contact: Renee Adam

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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State head men's tennis coach Brian Etzkin has announced the addition of two student-athletes to the lineup for the upcoming season, as Joe VanMeter and Niklas Jonsson are set to join the program for 2012-13. VanMeter comes to Cleveland State with four years of eligibility remaining, while Jonsson will have three years of eligibility remaining.

VanMeter is a native of Indianapolis, Ind. and is currently ranked #3 in the state of Indiana and #124 nationally by Tennisrecruiting.net. He spent his high school career at University High School, playing tennis under Jason Cash. In addition, VanMeter trains privately with Coach Miguel Dungo.

"Joe is a very good student-athlete who has proven himself on the court and in the classroom," Etzkin said. "He is an attacking player who feels more than comfortable moving forward which should help in both singles and doubles. The addition of Joe will certainly impact our goal of being one of the dominant programs in our league and beyond."

Jonsson, a transfer from Troy University in Alabama, hails from Bjuv, Sweden and will begin his CSU career as a sophomore. During his career as a junior player, Jonsson cracked the top-10 nationally.

"I'm looking forward to Niklas getting a fresh start here at CSU. He has his best tennis ahead of him and I can't wait to insert that lefty serve into our singles and doubles lineup," Etzkin said. "Niklas has the distinction of being the first left-handed tennis player to wear the green and white in over a decade."

VanMeter and Jonsson join a squad that finished second in the Horizon League Tournament this past year and has won four league championships in the past five seasons. For 2012-13 the Vikings will be returning six letterwinners, including two-time All-Horizon League Second Team honoree Matt Kuelker.