ROCK HILL, SC—The 2011 Winthrop men's and women's tennis teams have been named All-Academic Teams by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and 10 student-athletes, including five from each squad, have earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors.
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) for the fall 2010 and spring 2011 semesters. The Eagle men had a team GPA of 3.726 while the Lady Eagles' earned a 3.602 GPA for the year. The Winthrop men's team was among 74 NCAA Div. I schools and five Big South Conference members to receive the award while 109 women's teams, including four Big South schools, were honored. A total of 19 women's tennis players from Winthrop, UNC Asheville, Gardner-Webb and Coastal Carolina were included this year while 19 men's players from Winthrop, UNC Asheville, Gardner-Webb, Coastal Carolina and Radford were honored.
The five members of the men's team who were named ITA Scholar-Athletes for achieving a 3.5 GPA or better for the academic year include: Dejon Bivens (Sr., Charlotte, NC), 3.960 GPA, majoring in political science with a minor in sociology; Guy Kubi (Jr., Tiberias, Israel), 4.00, business administration with a concentration in marketing; Yuta Hirokawa (Fr.,Niigata, Japan), 3.926, exercise science; Liran Levy (So., Tel Aviv, Israel), 3.584, business administration; Nadav Ruppin (Jr., Ramat Hasharon, Israel), 3.926, economics with a minor in mathematics.
“I am extremely proud of our men's team's academic achievements,” said men's head coach Andrew Stubbs. “Their accomplishments are a direct result of the time and effort that they put into their studies. Our student-athletes understand the importance of being well-rounded individuals who have success on the tennis court and in the classroom.”
The five women's ITA Scholars include: Yasmine Alkema (So., Algiers, Algeria), 3.928, business administration; Lisa Wilkinson (Sr., Wellington, New Zealand), 4.00, psychology with a minor in sociology; Giovanna Portiolli (So., Curitiba, Brazil), 4.00, environmental science; Andressa Garcia (Fr., Sao Paulo, Brazil), 3.648, business administration; Elizaveta Zaytseva (Sr., Ryazan, Russia), 3.703, business administration with a concentration in international business.
“I am very proud of the players,” said women's head coach Cid Carvalho. “They have their priorities in the right order. It is difficult to juggle academics, their sport and social lives, but the athletes here at Winthrop do a great job.”
