TUCSON, Ariz.- Arizona men's tennis head coach Clancy Shields announced that Igor Karpovets and Aaro Oskari Pollanen signed National Letters of Intent to join the team for the 2017-18 season, becoming the first recruits to join Shields' program since Arizona native Carlos Hassey signed in November 2016. 
 
Karpovets, a native of Kiev Ukraine, comes to Arizona after a studying and competing at the Ukrainian International School. Throughout his career, Karpovets has been nationally ranked No. 1 in the Under 18 Division, and No. 10 in the Adult Division.
 
"I chose Arizona because of the friendly people, loyal and very motivated coach and awesome team," said Karpovets. "I really like the University and I would love to improve my skills individually and help the team reach high heights as a program."
 
Internationally, Karpovets has been ranked as high as No. 152  in the International Tennis Federation Junior rankings, and has an ATP professional ranking of No. 1843(singles) and No. 1127(doubles).  Karpovets enjoys incorporating many hobbies into his academic and athletic lifestyle including riding bicycles and studying astronomy. 
 
"Igor is an incredible young man who we really enjoyed getting to know throughout the recruiting process," said head coach Clancy Shields. "He has a great thirst for life, is incredibly insightful, and has a deep love and passion for tennis. I'm really excited to welcome Igor to the program and I know that he has a bright future. He will undoubtedly add a lot of value to our program on and off the tennis court."
 
Pollanen was born and raised in Helsinki, Finland and attended Pohjois-Haagan Yhteiskoulu sports high school. He will become the second athlete in his family to play collegiate tennis in the United States, joining his brother, Herkko, who is a senior at Ohio State.
 
Pollanen has an impressive résumé as well. He was a top-10 player in Finland, and has been internationally ranked as high as No. 158 by the ITF. Pollanen has been on the Association of Tennis Professionals' radar since 2014 and has been ranked as high as No. 1532 by the organization.
 
Even though tennis is his specialty, Pollanen enjoys other sports including basketball and fishing. When asked why he chose the University of Arizona, he answered, "I wanted to be a part of building the program. I feel inspired by the great team atmosphere, the facilities, the campus, and the coaching staff."
 
"We are really excited to announce the signing of Aaro Pollanen," commented Shields. "We feel like we landed the complete package in Aaro. He obviously has the skills to play at the highest level in college, but more importantly, he is our kind of guy; high character, hardworking, goal oriented, and someone we really wanted to come to work for every day. Aaro and I had some real talk about where we want to take the program and the vision for the future. He was excited about building the program and making Arizona one of the elite programs in the country. We look forward to working with Aaro and helping him write his success story here at Arizona."
 
Karpovets and Pollanen will be ready to compete for the Wildcats in the 2017-2018 season, and will give the team a balanced makeup of youth and experience with three seniors, one junior, two sophomores, and three freshmen.
 
 
FOLLOW MEN'S TENNIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Arizona women's basketball by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/ArizonaMensTennis), Twitter (@ArizonaMTennis) and Instagram (@arizonatennis).