The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Earn ITA Academic Team Award 20th Straight Year
7/22/2016 | Women's Tennis
OXFORD, Miss. - For the 20th consecutive year, the Ole Miss women's tennis team earned the prestigious ITA All-Academic Team Award, as announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. In addition, six players were named ITA Scholar-Athletes.
This award honors teams with outstanding academic achievements, requiring a minimum overall 3.2 grade point average to be considered.
The Rebels posted a 3.43 GPA for the 2015-16 year and rank second for consecutive appearances on this list.
"Another year where the ladies show that they can perform both on the court as well as in the classroom," head coach Mark Beyers said. "Advancing to the NCAA tournament for the eighth straight year, beating the national champion Stanford, and earning ITA All-Academic team honors for the 20th straight year is pretty awesome. We are so proud of them for their discipline and work ethic."
The Rebels tied for second most among SEC schools with six players on the ITA Scholar-Athlete list.
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).
Seniors Mai El Kamash (Cairo, Egypt) and Marija Milutinovic (Stockholm, Sweden) earned the honor every year of their career. They are the fourth and fifth Rebels to achieve the feat, joining Virginia Tomatis (2003-06), Gabby Rangel (2009-12) and Julia Jones (2012-15). Both El Kamash and Milutinovic made the SEC Academic Honor Roll as well.
Arianne Hartono (Meppel, Netherlands) and Natalie Suk (Bradenton, Florida) earned the honor for the second time. Hartono is one of only nine Division I players to earn ITA All-America and Scholar-Athlete honors. She became the 12th All-American in program history and ended the year ranked No. 26 in the nation in singles. Hartono and Suk also made the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
First-time players on the list include Tea Jandric (Zagreb, Croatia) and Brooke Stevens (Martinez, Georgia). Both players also made the First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll.
For more information on Ole Miss Women's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter, @OleMissWTennis, on Facebook at OleMissWTennis and on Instagram at OleMissWTennis. Follow Coach Beyers on Twitter, @MarkBeyers.
