STATESBORO - Georgia Southern Head Women's Tennis Coach Sean McCaffrey announced the signing of Nanaka Kijima to a NLI, joining the defending Sun Belt Conference champion Eagles for the Fall of 2022.
Kijima is a native of Chiba, Japan, where she enjoyed a successful juniors career. She was the Chiba Prefecture U18 singles champion in March of 2021 and also advanced to the Round of 16 at the East Japan Junior Tennis Championship in July. Kijima also competes for her Tokyo Gakkan Urayasu High School, playing No. 1 singles for the last three seasons. She carries a #731 ITF Junior Singles Ranking as of January.
"I am beyond excited that I chose Georgia Southern University, and that I get to play tennis for the Eagles," Kijima said. "The environment is the perfect fit for me as I look to balance my academic and competitive tennis life. I believe that everything I was looking for in a university can be found at Georgia Southern. In addition, I was so impressed with Coach McCaffrey and his vision for the program. The team has done so incredibly well since he started coaching there and I am so honored to be representing the Eagles. I also immediately felt a great connection with the team throughout the recruiting process. They are already making me feel like I am a part of the team and their family. I can't wait to play tennis at Georgia Southern and wear the Blue and White. Go Eagles!"
"We are very excited to welcome Nanaka to the Eagle tennis family," Coach McCaffrey said. "Not only is she an extremely accomplished player on court who appears to be very coachable, but she also brings a great deal of discipline in everything she does. From her level of dedication to her sport, to a heightened level of dedication towards her academics and her character. Throughout the recruiting process, I could feel clearly that Nanaka has a selfless approach to how she can add to the program. We can't wait to see Nanaka wearing the Eagle uniform this Fall!"
Kijima joins Ninon Martinache in the Georgia Southern signing class for Fall 2022.
