WKU Tennis head coach Greg Davis announced five incoming Lady Toppers for the 2021-22 season on Wednesday morning.

“I wanted to put together a team that had more depth,” Davis said in a press release. “Looking at the national title teams I’ve had, I felt like we had an opportunity to win and be successful at all nine positions – six singles, three doubles – and that was the goal with the group we’ve got coming in.”

Taylor Shaw, Missouri State

Shaw is coming off of two seasons with the Bears. She compiled a 7-7 record in singles matches and went 4-5 in doubles during her freshman year in 2019-20. The Little Rock, Arkansas native was the No. 1 recruit in the state in 2019, leading Little Rock Christian Academy to three conference championships. Shaw finished runner-up in state as a junior.

Paola Cortez, Kennesaw State

Cortez, a native of Cochabamba, Bolivia, is coming to WKU after two seasons with the Owls. In doubles, Cortez has compiled a 7-11 career record at the No. 1 position and a 2-2 record at No. 2. Cortez picked up eight singles and doubles titles in ITF (International Tennis Federation) junior play and competed for Bolivia in the WTA Fed Cup, winning her singles match against Peru.

Rachel Hermanova, Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy

Hermanova, originally from the Czech Republic, spent the previous two years of her career in Spain at the Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy. Her most notable singles accomplishments at the ITF J5 level of competition are a runner-up finish in El Salvador and semifinal appearances in Panama and Costa Rica. Hermanova also recorded runner-up finishes in Panama and the Canary Islands in doubles as well. Hermanova intends to study journalism at WKU in order to become a television anchor.

Sofia Cerezo, Spain

Cerezo, a native of Madrid, Spain, reached as high as No. 65 in the Spanish Open ranking, where she defeated three opponents who eventually went on to win college scholarships. Cerezo is a three-time regional singles champion and a national doubles runner-up and helped her regional team win back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018.

Sofia Blanco, Venezuela

Blanco, originally from Caracas, Venezuela, was ranked the No. 1 player in the country and currently ranks No. 514 in the ITF. Blanco competed in numerous singles and doubles tournaments across Venezuela and in other various countries in South America while earning a 3.6 GPA at Mater Salvatoris.

The quintet of signings will join returning players Cora-Lynn von Dungern, Samantha Martinez, Alexis Cramer and Laura Bernardos for the 2021-22 season and the team’s fall schedule is set to be released in the coming months.

Sports Editor Jake Moore can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Charles_JMoore.