Hempstead, NY - The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced the 2017 All-Academic Teams and Scholar-Athletes this week and both the Hofstra Men and Women's Tennis programs were recognized as ITA All-Academic Teams. The ITA All-Academic Team recognition marks the sixth consecutive season that both Hofstra Tennis programs were recognized for their collective work in the classroom. 

In addition, nine student-athletes earned ITA Scholar-Athlete recognition. In all, 720 teams and 3,908 student-athletes across all five divisions of college tennis were honored.

The Pride Women's Tennis team saw six student-athletes - Sarah Catherine Herndon, Jasmine King, Giulia Leone, Carmen Pestano, Tara Reutter and Disha Yellayi - receive ITA Scholar-Athlete accolades. Pestano earned the distinction for the fourth consecutive season, while Leone picked up her third scholar-athlete nod. Yellayi earned her second consecutive accolade, while Herndon, King and Reutter are each first-time recipients of the award.  

On the men's side, Coco Haener, Jan Leithner and Nick Silvestri were recognized as ITA Scholar-Athletes for the first time in their careers.

The tennis programs, led by Head Coach Jason Pasion, had the top team grade point averages among women's and men's sports at Hofstra this past academic year as women's tennis compiled a 3.68 GPA and men's tennis notched a 3.52 GPA. 
 

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 varsity letter winners were factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2016 and spring 2017). 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).