Link: ITA Acedemic Awards
TEMPE, Ariz. – The Carson-Newman women's tennis club was named a 2016 Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic team for the 2015-2016 academic year following four Eagles who were named ITA scholar athlete recipients the committee announced Thursday afternoon.
Thanks in large to the quartet of Merry Carson (Huntsville, Tenn.), Gabrielle Wood (Woodstock, Ga.), Haleigh Chastain (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Patricia Guerrerio (Fernao-Ferro, Portugal) who were selected as ITA Scholar Athletes, Carson-Newman joined the likes of the few numbered institutions across the Division II landscape who were awarded the honor.
Carson, Wood and Guerreiro each took home 4.0 GPA's for the summer following the 2015-2016 academic year while Chastain accumulated a 3.88 GPA over the course of her senior year in Carson-Newman's high demanding Nursing program.
The four ITA women Academic Scholars from Carson-Newman join forces with Jesus Bacete-Sanz (Madrid, Spain), Marc Bantel (Urbach, Germany), Kevin Mendes (Woodstock, Ga.), Joao Pedro Oliveira (Brazil) and Kyle Sills (Brownsville, Tenn.) on the men's side, totaling nine Academic ITA Scholars for the institution under coach Jean Love's guidance.
Carson-Newman's Academic Coach Gloria Walker speaks highly of the program for the accomplishments in the classroom.
"This is a direct result of the commitment of our coaches to strive for academic excellence at Carson-Newman University," Walker said. "As academic coach, I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of these amazing young men and women and the continued commitment of Coach Jean Love. Congratulations to all!"
The Caron-Newman women's tennis team is one of seven South Atlantic Conference women's tennis programs who received ITA All-Academic team status. The other programs who received the same distinct honor from around the league were Anderson, Brevard, Coker, Mars Hill, Newberry and Wingate.
More than 4,200 scholar-athletes were recognized across all divisions, along with over 700
all-academic teams. The ITA All-Academic Team award was open to any ITA program that had a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above on a 4.00 scale. All varsity letter winners were factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year, including fall 2015 and spring 2016.
In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status, a player must meet the following criteria: being a varsity letter winner, having a grade point average of at least 3.50 on a 4.00 scale for the current academic year and having been enrolled at their present school for at least two semesters, including freshman through senior year.
"I am very happy for these student-athletes to receive recognition. It is a resume builder for these young people and it indicates that they are achievement-oriented, goal-driven, dedicated, and able to manage time wisely," Love said. "I love to see people maximizing their God-given talents on and off the tennis court. It is one of the real joys in coaching. I also want to give a shout out to Coach Gloria Walker and the other coaches in the Academic Success Center. These people set the tone on a daily basis and help as well as encourage all students."
A win over King University on April 17 to wrap up the 2015-2016 season marked the 14th victory of the year for the Eagles and matched the single-highest season mark in the past seven years for the program. Carson-Newman's 2009 women's team recorded a 14-2 total on the season before losing in the round of 32 in the national tournament.
The Carson-Newman women's tennis team will finish off the remainder of the summer before returning to campus to prepare for the 2016-2017 season in Mossy Creek.
