CORPUS CHRISTI – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's and women's tennis teams have both been named Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Teams, and six members of the Islanders programs have garnered ITA Scholar-Athlete Awards.
On the men's side, Javier Pujol, Mitchell Cook and Wilks Kothmann were honored by the organization, while Jelena Dzinic, Maider Martin and Noelia Gomez collected recognition on the women's side.
"We're very proud to have both our programs recognized by the ITA – it really validates the hard work of these high-character student-athletes," Director of Tennis Steve Moore said. "The longer I coach, the more important it is to me what we stand for, and I feel like our whole team really made the commitment to standing for the right things and making the right choices.
"A former Islander player once said, 'If you're disciplined in the court, you'll be disciplined in the classroom,' and that really showed with this group," Moore added. "They represented Texas A&M-Corpus Christi very well this year on and off the court."
The Islanders were one of just 49 Division I programs nationally to have both their men's and women's teams honored. Only 69 men's squads were recognized by the organization and 117 women's teams collected the honors. Among Southland teams, only New Orleans joined A&M-Corpus Christi on the men's side, while the women's programs at UNO, Northwestern State and Lamar were also honored.
The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any member program that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). All eligible student-athletes whose names appear on the NCAA, NAIA or Junior/Community College eligibility form and have competed in one or more varsity matches must average into the GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2014 and spring 2015).
In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet the following criteria: 1.) Be a varsity letter winner; 2.) Have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year; and 3.) Have been enrolled at their present school for at least 2 semesters (including freshman through senior year).
