The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Women's Tennis Earns Academic Honor
8/3/1999 | Women's Tennis
August 3, 1999
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss women's tennis team was the only top 10 nationally-ranked team to earn ITA All-Academic honors as the Division IThe Ole Miss women's tennis team was the only top 10 nationally-ranked team to earn ITA All-Academic honors as the Division I ITA academic awards were announced recently for the 1998-99 season.
The Lady Rebels were among 43 Division I women's teams to receive this distinction. It marks the third year in a row that Ole Miss has been named All-Academic by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and finished the season ranked among the top 10 teams in the country.
"This is a great honor for our program and it demonstrates the full extent of the commitment that my players have made to excellence on and off the court," head coach Jerry Montgomery said. "Playing in a particularly strong conference like the SEC is very demanding and it is noteworthy to me that we are the only top 10 nationally-ranked school that was named ITA All-Academic."
"We are very proud of Jerry and our women's tennis team," Athletic Director John Shafer said. "They epitomize what a student-athlete should be at Ole Miss."
Ole Miss finished the season with a 24-5 overall record, upset then No. 1 ranked Florida to win the SEC Tournament title, and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the second year in a row. The Lady Rebels ended the year ranked No. 6 in the nation.
The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA 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 eligibility form and have competed in one or more matches are averaged into the cumulative grade point average.
The Lady Rebels had five players make the SEC Academic Honor Roll this past year and seven made one of the University's three honors rolls including four on the Chancellor's list.