Aug. 30, 2005

Tiger men's tennis coach Paul Goebel added two more recruits for his first signing class which he announced Tuesday. Joining the Tigers for the upcoming season will be Michael Jetter from Germany and Oskar Saarne from Estonia.

Jetter comes to Memphis from Neuenbuerg, Germany. There, he attended Gymnasium Neuenbuer. He has participated in three Futures tournaments in Thailand, advancing to the singles quarters at the F3 Futures tournament in 2004.

The son of Gundi and Karl-Eugen, Jetter is the first German player to sign with the Tiger program. He will be a junior for the Tigers in 2005-06.

Saarne comes to Memphis via a pipeline of sorts. Saarne was known to former Tiger Marten Tamla, who completed his eligibility last year and is completing his degree at Memphis this coming season. Saarne is another player who brings a lot of international competition to the college game, after competing in tournaments in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

As a junior tennis player, Saarne owned 18 singles victories in ITF tournaments and 20 doubles victories. He won fell in the finals of the Siaulai Mayors Cup in March of 2003 in Lithuania and advanced to the quarters of the Estonian Junior Open, also in 2003. In doubles, he won the doubles title at the Estonian Junior Open and two months later, fell in the Dorint Berlin Junior Open.

Saarne, the son of Madis Saarne and Eda Mallmann, started playing tennis at age six and was coached in Tallinn, Estonia, also the hometown of Tamla, by Alti Vahkal. Saarne attended Audentes High School in Tallinn and was coached by Harri Neppi.

The duo joins freshman Matthew Brewer for the 2005-06 season. Brewer capped a solid junior career last month, ending the season ranked No. 23 in the nation in the USTA and No. 3 in the Southern USTA rankings.

The Tigers will open the 2005-06 season at the Middle Tennessee Fall Classic, Sept. 16-18th.