University of Minnesota Athletics
Merzbacher Named NHSTAAF All-American
5/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Full List of NHSTAAF All-Americans
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Minnesota women's tennis incoming freshman Caitlyn Merzbacher was named a National High School Tennis All-American, the National High School Tennis All-American Foundation has announced. Merzbacher, an Eden Prairie, Minn. native, signed an acceptance of admission in the fall and will join the Gophers beginning in the 2015-16 season.
Merzbacher was one of 36 high school student-athletes recognized for the national award and was the list's lone representative from the state of Minnesota.
To be eligible to receive consideration as an All-American tennis player, a student-athlete must maintain an above average academic and citizenship record, compete on a high school tennis team and garner an individual national ranking.
All decisions for All-American honors are researched and authorized by a panel of eight National District Chairmen who are highly respected high school coaches. Each All-American player and her school receives a certificate signifying the importance of participation on high school tennis teams and the value of playing tennis in a team environment, with the purpose of promoting high school tennis nationally and assisting players in gaining recognition by college coaches.
The daughter of third-year head coach Chuck Merzbacher, Caitlyn Merzbacher currently ranks 107th in the nation and second in the state of Minnesota according to tennisrecruiting.net. She is No. 103 nationally in the USTA rankings and is ranked third in the USTA Northern Section.
In the fall, she won her second-straight Minnesota State High School Class AA singles championship, representing Edina High School. Her high school career featured four team state titles--two with the Hornets and two for Jerome High School in Dublin, Ohio. After a pair of all-conference seasons in Ohio, Caitlyn Merzbacher went on to captain a Hornets squad that has now won 18-consecutive state championships, earning two more all-conference nods in the process.
In addition to her high school tennis accomplishments, she was also a National Open doubles champion and was selected to the Northern Section Fed Cup team. As an honor-roll student throughout high school, she added an academic all-state award to her resume in 2014.
Merzbacher will join AnneMarie Emme and Camila Vargas on the Gophers' roster in the fall.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS ALL-AMERICAN FOUNDATION
The National High School Tennis All-American Foundation (NHSTAAF) is a non-profit corporation formed to promote high school boys and girls tennis and to recognize the most outstanding high school players and teams from throughout the United States.
The mission of the NHSTAAF is two-fold. First, the NHSTAAF wants to reward personal achievement by honoring the best high school boys and girls players in America in a meaningful way.
Second, the NHSTAAF hopes to encourage the development of high-caliber high school tennis players and participation on high school teams by hosting and promoting national invitational team tennis tournaments each year -- boys in the spring, and girls in the fall. The explicit objective is simple: to showcase a level of high school tennis individual and team competition that is unmatched anywhere in the nation.
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Players Mentioned
