MONMOUTH, Ill. – Monmouth’s women earned their second straight national team academic award and the men their first as announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
The ITA annually awards All-Academic Team status to men’s and women’s teams which earn a cumulative team GPA of at least 3.20 on a 4.0 scale during the fall and spring semesters. All varsity letter winners are factored into the grade point average when awarding the prestigious honor.
A year after winning the award for the first time in program history, the Scots’ women repeated the distinction for the 2016-17 season. Four women – Natalie Curtis, Morgan Holle, Carolyn Scherpe and Katy Tolsky – were earlier named ITA Scholar-Athletes.
Monmouth’s men picked up their first ITA academic team honor after a team-record three men were named Scholar Athletes. Saxon Day, Paulo Pliego and Dylan Wong claimed the individual honors last month.
“The women set the standard during the 2015-16 season,” said a pleased Brian Jordan who guides the tennis programs at Monmouth. “At that time, we had implemented a practice schedule that allowed the players – men and women – to give them more time for academic pursuits. It paid dividends for the women and the men are following suit. We’re fortunate to have student-athletes who can compete well on the court and excel in the classroom. Our goal now is to earn the academic award every season.”
