Owls Receive ITA Academic Honors
7/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
July 19, 2005
HOUSTON -- The Rice women's tennis team received ITA all-academic team honors for the eighth-straight year, and six Owls earned ITA scholar-athlete awards, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced.
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).
Junior Blair DiSesa received scholar-athlete accolades for the third-straight year, while senior Tracie Chong received the award for the second time in her two years at Rice. Newcomers Amy Cao, Dominique Karas, Kimberley Patenaude and Cleo Sham also received the individual award.
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. This award honors freshman through seniors year.
"I'm really proud of the team," said head coach Roger White. "This honor is a reflection of this group of players' hard work and determination both in the classroom and on the court. They exemplify the true meaning of a student-athlete."
In addition to their accomplishments in the classroom, the 2004-05 Owls reached the finals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament for the first time and finished the year ranked 51st by the ITA.
Players Mentioned
