PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland men's tennis team has signed five-star recruit Nicklas Oberg (Plano, Texas) to a National Letter of Intent and he will join the Pilots as a freshman in the fall of 2018, head coach Aaron Gross announced on Wednesday.

Oberg, the younger brother of current Pilot women's tennis sophomore Anna Oberg, is ranked in the top 50 nationally for the class of 2018 and has been ranked as high as No. 33 in the nation this year. He narrowed his college choices to Portland, Arizona and Texas before selecting the Pilots.

"We are all so happy to have Nicklas officially part of the Pilot family," Gross said. "Anna has been a huge part of the women's program here and her close relationship with Nicklas really helped push him our way. There are so many things to like about him. He is a great kid from a great family and fits into our culture as a person. As a player, he reminds me quite a bit of Mike Pervolarakis. He is long, moves well, is very solid off the ground, and is very driven. He also reminds me of Mike in that I? don't think he really knows how good he can be. Mike has started realizing that in the last year or so and I'm hoping that Nicklas can grab that confidence early and run with it."

Oberg was ranked as the top player in the state of Texas at the 16's age level and is currently No. 5 in the state rankings for his age. He has won multiple sectional tournaments, competed in the USTA Junior Davis Cup and various national tournaments, and recorded a notable win on clay against the top-ranked player in the nation.

To read more about Oberg's decision on signing with Portland, check out the Q&A he conducted recently with TennisRecruiting.net.

Portland won its first West Coast Conference regular season championship last year, finished the season with an 18-3 overall record and was ranked No. 48 in the final ITA National Rankings. The Pilots just missed the NCAA Championships, but return nearly the entire roster. Pervolarakis, ranked No. 95 in the fall, headlines a roster that features seven seniors this season.

Oberg is the first of what anticipates to be a large 2018 recruiting class for Gross, the reigning WCC Coach of the Year.