DENVER – The University of Denver men's tennis team will welcome six newcomers for the upcoming 2022-23 season, head coach Drew Eberly announced on Wednesday.
 
Joining the Pioneers will be graduate student transfers Mitch Johnson (San Francisco) and Conner Olsen (Arizona); redshirt senior transfer Anish Sriniketh (Texas A&M); sophomore transfer Daniel Sancho Arbizu; and incoming freshmen Raffaello Papajcik and Danilo Raicevic.
 
"I am beyond thrilled to be adding these six new student-athletes to our program," Eberly said. "We worked extremely hard the past year in recruiting, and we feel that hard work has paid off. It's an interesting signing class as we have a mix of transfers and incoming freshman. We can't wait to get them all here in September."
 
Mitch Johnson is a Centennial, Colorado, native and has spent the last three seasons at the University of San Francisco. Last season, he finished with a 10-9 record including 8-4 in No. 4 singles and 1-1 in No. 3 singles. In doubles, he earned wins over teams from Pepperdine and Michigan at the Battle in the Bay Classic. He started his collegiate career in 2018-19 at Utah State.
 
"Mitch is a Colorado native who will be coming to DU with a lot of college tennis experience," Eberly said. "He is a great team guy who is very athletic. Mitch is very dedicated to his tennis, and we know he is going to come in right away and help our team and lineup."
 
Conner Olsen comes to Denver following four seasons at the University of Arizona. The Orono, Minnesota, native helped the Wildcats win their first-ever Pac-12 regular-season title in 2022 while recording a 13-4 singles record and a 9-3 doubles record. In 2021, he made the quarterfinals of the Jack Cramer Classic and also won titles at the 2019 Aggie Invitational and 2019 Tucson Tournament.
 
"Conner is an outstanding young man that comes from a program in Arizona that we have a lot of respect for," Eberly said. "He was instrumental on and off the court to help build a winning culture over his four years at Arizona, and we hope he can continue to do the same here at DU with our program. Conner will come in right away and be a leader for this team, but we are also expecting him to make an immediate impact in our lineup."
 
Anish Sriniketh played for Texas A&M University over the last two years, finishing 10-3 in singles and 6-1 in doubles last year. While at St. Edwards University for his first two collegiate seasons, he was named a 2020 ITA Division II All-American in both singles and doubles, and won the 2019 ITA South Central Fall Region Championship in singles. He was also named an ITA Player to Watch in 2020.
 
"Anish is a tremendous student-athlete who is a great person on and off the court," Eberly said. "We feel he has a lot of potential in singles and doubles and with his time at an elite program like Texas A&M, we know he will excel here at DU."
 
Daniel Sancho Arbizu earned a trifecta of WAC awards following his 2022 campaign at Lamar University, capturing Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and First-Team All-Conference honors. As a freshman, he spent the entire year as Lamar's No. 1 singles player, finishing 15-5 on the season and adding an 11-7 record in doubles. The incoming sophomore is from Zaragoza, Spain.
 
"Daniel comes to DU after one year at Lamar where he played No. 1 singles as a freshman," Eberly said. "We think he can be a top 100 college tennis player. He is going to fit in perfectly with our culture and team here at DU, and we can't wait to start working with him come September."
 
Raffaello Papajcik joins Denver from London, England. On the British Tour, he won 18U singles and doubles titles at East Gloucester in 2021 and advanced to the semifinals at Cumberland in the open age group. He ranked No. 65 in the UK open male division in August 2022 and helped his high school (Whitgift) win a regional event.
 
"Raff is a great student-athlete from England," Eberly said. "We believe he will thrive in a college tennis atmosphere and has a very high ceiling. Raff has been a top player in the UK in his age group the last couple of years. He and Danilo will be the future of our program for the next four years, and we're thrilled to have them."
 
Danilo Raicevic is from Podgorica, Montenegro, where he won three singles titles while playing for his high school (Slobodan Skerovic). In May 2022, he achieved a career-high ITF ranking of 866 and has advanced to the qualification round of 16 in multiple Futures tournaments. As a junior tennis player, he ranked as high as No. 13 at U14, in the top 100 at U16 and in the top 250 at U18.
 
"Danilo has a lot of international playing experience and has been successful at every age he's competed in," Eberly said. "He has played in Futures, junior ITF's and national events over the last two years, and we're thrilled to be adding him as a true freshman to our program."
 
Denver is coming off a 2022 season in which it captured its eighth Summit League regular-season title and then-graduate student James Davis advanced to the NCAA National Tournament in singles. DU's freshman class of Papajcik and Raicevic was ranked No. 8 in the Mid-Major rankings and joins returners Nicolas Herrero Cuesta, Peter Sallay and Charlie Miller, who earned All-Summit League Team honors.

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