BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team was honored as an Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team while a school record seven Lady Tigers were named ITA Scholar-Athletes, the ITA announced recently.
The team finished with an overall cumulative grade point average of 3.385, easily earning All-Academic Team status which is awarded to any team with a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
LSU was one of five Southeastern Conference schools recognized as an All-Academic Team as Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt earned the honor as well.
“This says a lot about the character and hard work that the girls put in, not only on the tennis court, but in the classroom as well,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “What is really impressive is that five of our starters were Scholar-Athletes, which says a lot about their dedication on and off the tennis court. This is a great accomplishment.”
Individually, seven Lady Tigers were named Scholar-Athletes as Kylie Adamek, Megan Falcon, Nicole Kantor, Sloane Mathis, Hannah Robinson, Staten Spencer and Tiffany Tucker earned the honor.
LSU’s seven Scholar-Athletes led the SEC. Vanderbilt was second with five players while Alabama and Mississippi State both placed four on the list. Florida, Georgia and Ole Miss each had two.
To be recognized as an ITA Scholar-Athlete a player must have lettered that season, possessed at least a 3.50 grade point average on a 4.0 scale and been at the university for at least two semesters.
Adamek, who will be a sophomore in 2008-09, earned Scholar-Athlete recognition in her freshman season.
Falcon was already a two-time singles All-American, and the Scholar-Athlete honor is the first of her career, making her an All-American on and off the tennis court.
One year ago, LSU placed four players on the Scholar-Athlete list and Kantor, Mathis and Robinson are repeat recipients as all three earned the honor in 2007 after their respective freshmen seasons.
The honor marks the fourth straight season Spencer has been recognized as a Scholar-Athlete. Spencer is a fifth-year senior in 2008, and she graduated in May with a degree in economics.
Tucker, who ended her career with the Lady Tigers in May, was named a Scholar-Athlete for the first time. Tucker is on pace to graduate with a degree in mass communication in December.
In addition to the present Lady Tigers’ success in the classroom, former player Patricia Minnis, who lettered from 1988-91, earned a doctorate degree in communication disorders this summer at LSU.
“I think it’s unbelievable what Patricia has done,” said Tony Minnis, Patricia’s brother. “With the amount of work she has put in over the past few years, to be able to juggle a job, her family and earn a Ph.D., that’s why I call her ?Super Woman.’”
LSU will kick off the 2008-09 season Sept. 12-14 at the Gopher Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn.