Dalton State men’s tennis will add one of the NAIA’s best players in time for next spring’s Southern States Athletic Conference competition.
Roadrunner Coach Zach Rogers announced Wednesday that Mid-South Conference Player-of-the-Year Edberg Espinoza is transferring from #5 ranked nationally Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Ky.
Espinoza is the #4 singles and doubles players in the International Tennis Association and NAIA ranking. He is a two-time NAIA All-American and a two-time All-MSC.
The native of Valencia, Venezuela has trained with a number of the top professional players in the world including Marat Safin of Russia, David Ferner of Spain and Potito Starace of Italy.
“I am very excited and thankful to be joining the Dalton State men’s tennis team this fall,” said Espinoza. “It is a great opportunity for me and I am ready to help the Roadrunners compete for conference and national titles.”
The rising junior has two years of remaining eligibility, but will have to sit for 16 weeks in the fall.
“Coming out of the national tournament, we knew that Nik (Nikolay Nikiforov) was going to need some help at the top of the line-up if we were going to take the program to the next level,” said Rogers. “We definitely got that and more when Edberg made the decision to transfer to Dalton State.”
“He’s not just a game changer, but a program changer. The excitement that his signing generated within the team was nothing short of electric. We are extremely blessed to have such a talented and established player join our program.”
Espinoza is a marketing major.