SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Finishing up its strategic two-year recruiting plan, the Santa Clara men's tennis team and head coach Derek Mills announced that it has signed two players to national letters of intent for the 2016-17 season. The newest Broncos are Vasileios Iliopoulos from Athens, Greece, and Jesus Tapiador Barajas from Madrid, Spain.

"We're really happy to get them both signed early," said Mills. "They were both highly recruited and we feel fortunate to get them. We expect them to be impact players for our team right away in both singles and doubles."

Iliopoulos, playing primarily in Greece and in Europe, has a wealth of experience competing at the ITF junior level and ATP future level. Recently, he traveled across the pond to compete in ITF tournaments in Austin, Texas and Wichita Falls, Texas. At the event in Wichita Falls, the Greek teenager blitzed his way past a number of Blue Chip ranked American players en route to an appearance in the singles final. 

Tapiador Barajas, hailing from Spain, is one of the best young players in his home country, ranked in the top 100 level for the men's open. The Spaniard competes primarily in open tournaments across Spain.

Considered to be high-ranking five star or Blue Chip quality recruits, Iliopoulous and Tapiador Barajas round out the second wave of Bronco newcomers that are part of a recruiting scheme put in place by Mills to put Santa Clara on a fast track to national recognition and triumph.

"This is the second year in a two-year plan to get us back into the thick of trying to compete for the WCC title and get back into the NCAA Tournament," he said.

The new recruits will soon be playing alongside six current first-year players who achieved the No. 11 ranked recruiting class in the nation last year, the highest ever in the history of the Santa Clara men's tennis program.