PORTLAND, Ore. – University of Portland signed women's tennis standout Nina Nikitovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Politehnika HS) to a National Letter of Intent during the November signing period, Pilots head coach Susie Campbell announced.

Nikitovic has won numerous national tournaments at the Junior and Women's Open categories. She is the No. 6 ranked woman in Serbia and No. 5 ranked junior in the nation. Her career path included starting on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) pro circuit at the age of 15. Nikitovic has qualified for the main draw of seven ITF $10,000 Circuit events thus far.

"We are very excited to add Nina to our team for next Fall," Campbell said. "We expect that Nina will have an immediate impact in both singles and doubles play. Nina brings a wealth of international playing experience and we are looking forward to seeing her reach her potential as a player and in the classroom."
 
"Nina is a very talented young player with an aspiration of playing professional tennis after college," Portland assistant coach Filip Zivkovic said. "She fits in perfectly with our philosophy which emphasizes player development. Nina has had a great start to her tennis career and we are looking forward to seeing her game progress here at University of Portland."

The Pilots concluded the 2016 fall season and now look ahead to the spring dual campaign. Portland will add incoming freshman Jelena Lukic to the roster for the spring semester to join three returners and three other newcomers to the 2016-17 roster.