Longwood University Athletics

Coach Gustafsson on Tanaka: “As our only senior on the team, I will look to Nobu for great leadership this year. He is a hard worker and a perfectionist on the court. Nobu has been at the top of our line-up for a very long time, and I expect him to make a final push to improve his results for his last year."

Fall 2011
Fourth-year team member ... team captain.

2010-11
Ended his junior year 17-13 overall in singles and 14-8 in doubles ... was 13-6 in spring singles and 10-4 in doubles ... named National Independent Tournament MVP for second-straight year ... finished the year with 12-straight wins in singles and seven in doubles ... runner up of the Green Doubles Flight with Crescente Lesser in the University of Virginia Fall Classic ... shared (with Marc Ferrigno) singles winner of Flight A  in the University of Mary Washington Kickoff Classic ... doubles quarterfinalist of Flight A2 at the Elon University Invitational with Lesser ... was the first player (along with Ferrigno) in Longwood history to reach the singles Round of 32 at the ITA Atlantic Regional.

2009-10
First Longwood player to achieve a national ranking (#101) in the Division I Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) ... win over Elon’s #1 player at the Elon International ... consolation finalist in singles at the Greensboro Invitational ... tied his own Longwood single-season win record (21) ... went 5-3 in singles action in the fall and 2-4 in doubles ... finished 16-11 in singles in the spring and 13-10 in doubles ... named National Independent Tournament MVP.

2008-09
Finished the fall season 5-1 overall in singles ... 3-4 in doubles, including 3-3 with teammate Milo Barajas-Alexander ... went undefeated in singles (3-0) at Mary Washington Invitational ... went 2-1 in doubles with Barajas-Alexander at Elon Invitational ... went 16-3 in spring singles and 8-8 in doubles ... broke Longwood record for most season wins with 21 and a .840 season winning percentage ... earned team MVP honors in singles.

High School
Participated in tennis at St. John’s College HS in Potomac, Md. ... 2006 USTA Zonals Mid-Atlantic team member ... member of the 2008 All-Metropolitan High School Tennis team ... went undefeated (16-0) as a senior ... ranked in the Top five of the Mid-Atlantic 16-under, while ranking in the Top 10 in the 18-under category ... was ranked in the Top 150 Nationally in 16-under ... won the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference title as a senior ... was a semifinalist for the Chicago National Open (14-under).

Personal
Son of Yasutaka Tanaka and Elsa Portaro Cracel … father was a top-10 karate competitor in Japan … mother was a top-10 karate competitor in Peru and won the Pan-American Championships as a teenager ... interned with the Longwood Police Department during summer 2011.

Academics
Criminal Justice and Psychology major.