Hempstead, NY - The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced its 2021 All-Academic Teams and Scholar-Athletes and both
Hofstra University Tennis programs were well represented as both squads earned ITA All-Academic Team honors and combined to produce 17 ITA Scholar-Athlete selections. This marked the 10th consecutive year that both programs earned ITA All-Academic Team status.
Nine student-athletes from the Pride women's team earned scholar-athlete accolades with
Simran Desai,
Ronia Dolabany, Katherine Kachkarov,
Alejandra Ruffini,
Kayla Solagnier,
Odessa Stork,
Isabella Tonuzi,
Mandisa Walle, and
Ciyin Zhang picking up the honor.
Dolabany and Stork are now four-time honorees, while Kachkarov, Ruffini, and
Walle picked up the accolade for the third time in their careers. Desai, Solagnier, Tonuzi, and Zhang each earned the award for the first time in their careers following their first season as members of the Pride.
The
Hofstra men's tennis team saw eight student-athletes garner ITA Scholar-Athlete honors with
Alvaro Arce Lopez-Sanchez,
Guido Feldberg,
Shawn Jackson,
Ostap Kovalenko,
Jonathan Mahrt Guyou,
Yusuke Nishitani,
Giacomo Pezzoli, and
Patrick Wall earning accolades. Jackson took home his third career honor. Arce Lopez-Sanchez and Kovalenko are two-time honorees, while Feldberg, Mahrt Guyou, Nishitani, Pezzoli and Wall earned the award for the first time.
There were 1,505 individuals named ITA Scholar-Athletes and 210 programs selected ITA All-Academic Teams on the women's side. The men saw 1,054 individuals and 145 teams recognized.
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.
In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete honors 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) been enrolled at their present school for at least two semesters.
