Bio

On Court: Starter all four years for Menlo Knights high school tennis team, playing key role in league, conference, and state championships each year...part of high school national championship teams his freshman and junior years...As a junior, Daniel played the deciding match in the national championship match against Reo Asami of University High School (Irvine) and won in a close tiebreak, leading his team to victory.  In his four years as a Menlo Knight, Daniel only lost four individual matches, going undefeated in league, conference, and state play, with all losses at nationals...Menlo only lost twice in four years, achieving an overall record of 111-2...Also named a member of the all-tournament team at nationals his last two seasons...   Daniel was a four star recruit on TennisRecruiting.net,ranked as high as 77 in the Junior class, and 86 in the Senior class...also ranked top 10 in Northern California every year from the 10s to the 18s...his best tournament result in singles was reaching the finals of the Boys 18s Las Vegas National Level 3 tournament, and reaching the doubles quarterfinals of Boys 16s National Level 1 Clay Court Championships with partner Ivan Kravtchenko...as a freshman was one of four first year players debuting for the 2014 Stags...got things started with an impressive showing at the USTA / ITA West Regionals where he toppled two seeds en route to reaching the quarters of the singles...defeated Treacy of Cal Lutheran in the opening round, then took out 2012 Regionals finalist Wiechert of Pomona-Pitzer in the round of 16 in three sets...fell to teammate and tournament champion Skyler Butts in the quarters - good enough to earn singles ranks of #15 in the west and #46 nationally...partnered Oliver Seifert in doubles, winning one of three matches...wasted no time in making an impact in the spring, earning a starting singles position and winning his dual match debut on February 20 at the #3 position against Vanguard...was 2-2 in his first four singles dual matches, then went on a tear and won fourteen straight between March 9 and April 25...saw limited action in doubles as the first player off the bench, but earned a 9-0 dual match record with both Yeh and Pereverzin...put together impressive overall records of 22-5 in singles and 12-3 in doubles...his debut singles record was good for the 16th best all-time single season winning percentage at .815...as a sophomore entered the ITA West Regional as the 16th seed in singles and advanced to the third round before losing to 6th seeded Yasgoor of Pomona-Pitzer in three sets...paired with Butts in doubles as the 5th seeds, advancing to the semis before losing to the eventual champions...earned fall regional rankings of #21 in singles and #7 in doubles, and a national doubles ranking of #21...embarked on a breakout season by winning his first twenty singles matches of the spring, a run that included 18 dual matches at positions 2-5 and then two wins at The Ojai...his lost to Patrick Lipscomb of Redlands at Ojai was his only defeat all spring...stayed perfect in the NCAA team event by gaining a victory in the 2nd round against UC Santa Cruz, and then led in each of the Stags' remaining four matches before other teammates clinched...earned a starting position in doubles, pairing with Butts at #2...played all but three matches with Butts, partnering Wood for the season opener and Dorn for two matches on the Stags' east coast trip in March...became the seventh team in program history to win The Ojai doubles title, defeating Stags' #1 team Wood and Dorn in three sets for the championship...his 25-2 overall singles record was good for the best single season winning percentage (.925) in program history...his 36-8 overall doubles record put him tied for first in single season matches played (44), and second in matches won (36), just one shy of teammate Wood...also set single season records for a doubles team with Butts in matches played (41) and matches won (34)...earned 2nd Team All-SCIAC honors and ITA Scholar Athlete honors...as a junior spent fall semester in Paris, France...returned to action in the spring as one of the Stags' on court leaders, playing at #3 singles and #1 doubles (with Butts)...won his first seven singles dual matches en route to a 15-6 dual match record...had another terrific Ojai tournament, reaching the singles final with wins over Pomona-Pitzer's Maassen and CMS teammate Glenn Hull in the quarters and semis...lost a tough two-setter to doubles partner Butts in the final, and then the duo went out and defended their doubles title later that afternoon...Morkovine was first alternate from the West as an NCAA singles qualifier...he and Butts represented the West at NCAAs as the region's top doubles team where they reached the quarters...finished 2016 with records of 19-7 in singles and 30-8 in doubles...earned 1st Team All-SCIAC honors, and was once again an ITA Scholar-Athlete and SCIAC All-Academic honoree for maintaining better than a 3.5 GPA...appointed co-captain for the 2017 Stags with teammate Glenn Hull. 

Tools: Wilson BLX 18x20 strung with Solinco Tour Bite at 60 lbs.

Personal: First language is Russian, which he speaks at home with his family....huge bay area sports fan...loves watching the Giants, Niners, and Warriors...also enjoys spending time with family and friends, and eating chocolate.

Favorite Stag: Zhenya Pereverzin (CMC '14)

Say What?: Released a full rap CD in high school under the alias of Dwayne (combining first initial with middle name Wayne), earning net profit of $6 and making him the second most successful rapper in Menlo History