UTEP Tennis Team Named ITA All-Academic Team
The UTEP tennis team has been named an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic team, it was revealed by the organization Tuesday.
Additionally a pair of returning Miners (Maria Paula Medina and Yvette van Oijen secured ITA Scholar-Athlete status.
It marked the third consecutive year and fourth time on record that the UTEP tennis team has been recognized by the ITA for its hard work in the classroom. The program was also previously a recipient in 1996, 2016 and 2017.
“I am really proud of the team for being named to the ITA All Academic Team once again and especially proud of the ones that were recognized as Scholar Athletes,” UTEP head coach Ivan Fernandez said. “It is not easy to manage school and tennis while doing well at both. I want to thank the staff of the MAAC for their incredible academic support of the student athletes to make these awards happen for us.”
It is not the first academic honor of the year, which secured the grade point award at the 44th-Annual “Dinner with the Miners” banquet on May 3, 2018. Additionally seven Miners were placed on the 2018 Conference USA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll on April 12, 2018, while one individual earned a C-USA Commissioner’s Academic Medal on April 13, 2018.
To garner the ITA All-Academic team honor the program must sport a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or better (on a 4.00 scale). The ITA Scholar-Athlete recipients need to be a letter winner, boast a GPA of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the academic year and have been enrolled at the institution for a minimum of two semesters.
In all, 735 teams and 4,328 student-athletes across all five divisions of college tennis were honored.