Women's Tennis Signs Two to Big Ten Tenders

Jan. 14, 2010

EAST LANSING, Mich. -

Michigan State women's tennis head coach Simone Jardim has announced that Renata de Paiva (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) and Michaela Silesova (Topolcany, Slovakia) have signed Big Ten Tenders and will join the women's tennis team for the remainder of the 2009-10 season.

de Paiva previously attended school at Centro Educacional Rogedo and has a list of great accomplishments prior to joining the Spartans. At the Bahia Open in 2007, de Paiva competed in both singles and doubles action. She advanced to the semi-finals in singles before falling to Carla Lucero, 0-6, 2-6. In doubles action, de Paiva partnered with Maisa Feital to defeat the pairing of Lucero and Miro for the title, 7-6(1), 0-6, 7-6(6). de Paiva saw her most recent success at the Copa Gatorade competition where she defeated Carolina Abello, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the main draw.

Silesova also boasts an impressive list of previous endeavors and will contribute greatly to the Spartan lineup. Having previously attended school at Centro Educacional Rogedo, Silesova went on to advance to the final round of the Talentum Cup in 2006 in doubles action with partner Barbora Krtickova before falling to the pairing of Babos and Jani, 2-6, 2-6. In May of 2006, Silesova made it to the quarterfinals in the TED-Istanbul competition before falling in a close match to Angelika Aliev, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(5). Most recently, Silesova advanced to the main draw of the 25th Perin Memorial Competition after topping first Polana Dakic, 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-2, and then Martina Dedaj, 6-3, 6-1.

Also announced, joining the Spartans coaching staff is former player Ana Milosavljevic, who has recently been named the new volunteer assistant coach, while Missy Wright will now serve as the sport psychologist.

The Spartans will host Akron on Friday, Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. to open the 2010 dual season.