Love, who TennisRecruiting.net has ranked as a three-star performer on a five-star scale, signed with The Rock after having an extremely successful high school career.

As a Spruce Creek freshman, the 5-foot-6 right-hander was undefeated in regular-season matches advanced to the state finals in No. 4 singles competition and also earned a state-semifinal berth in the No. 2 doubles bracket. She returned to state competition in both her sophomore and junior seasons, capped off by a doubles state-final appearance as a junior.

Love opted to not play high school tennis as a senior and instead concentrated her efforts on United States Tennis Association (USTA) competition and training.

“We are extremely excited and happy to have Kasey join our program,” Meredith said. “I see her vying for one of the top spots in our lineup and potentially being one of the top players in our region.”

“Kasey's had a lot of quality training and has played a lot of USTA matches in Florida, which will only help her and our team as a whole as she makes the transition to collegiate tennis competition,” Meredith said. “She is only going to keep getting better the more she plays and I think she has a bright future at The Rock.”

In addition to her tennis prowess, Love earned honor roll status in the classroom and was a member of Spruce Creek's volleyball and track and field programs.

Love, in a feature story written by Julie Wrege that appeared on the TennisRecruiting.net web site, said she chose Slippery Rock because of “the location, the size of the school and the academics.”

She added, “I like that Slippery Rock … is far away from my home [in Florida], and the fact that I will get to see the change in seasons is very exciting to me. I also really like that they have exactly what I want to study.

Love, who plans to major in biology at SRU, joins a Rock women's tennis program that has earned berths in six consecutive NCAA Division II national tournaments and played in a regional final five of the last six seasons.

The Rock seek to replace their top two players, Sarah Lynch and Dunja Drmac, who completed their collegiate careers this spring. Lynch and Drmac, the sixth and seventh players in Rock history to record 100 or more wins in their career, comprised the No.1 doubles team and played No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively.

Love is the second recruit to join The Rock for the 2012-13 season. Butler (Pa.) High School standout Courtney Gallagher signed a National Letter of Intent last November.

Meredith is SRU's all-time leader in career wins by a tennis coach with a 229-97 record in 14 seasons as his alma mater. He has led The Rock to one National Round of 8 berth, three National Round of 16 appearances, three regional championships, 10 NCAA tournament appearances and one Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship.