Women's, Men's Tennis Teams Win All-Academic Awards
July 29, 2016
Both the women's and men's tennis teams at Webster University received the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team award, with several individuals also being named 2016 ITA Scholar Athletes.
The women's tennis team garnered the All-Academic Team award for a third straight
year. In addition, eight team members were named 2016 ITA Scholar Athletes, the largest
number of individual recipients for a single year in team history.
The women's tennis team had an outstanding 3.71 team grade point average (GPA) for
the 2015-2016 year, easily eclipsing the team's 3.42 GPA for 2014-2015. To qualify
for the ITA All-Academic Team Award, team rosters must maintain a 3.2 GPA for the
academic year.
The Webster women's ITA Scholar Athletes all earned the awards by maintaining GPAs, for the 2015-2016 academic year, over
the 3.5 minimum required for the honor. In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status
a player must also be a varsity letter winner and have been enrolled at their present
school for at least two semesters. Those qualifying were:
- Monica Behrle, SO, Atlanta, GA (East Paulding HS)
- Kaylen Kress, SR, Bartlett, IL (Bartlett HS)
- Stephanie Lass, SO, Lake Villa, IL (Lakes Community HS)
- Sara Rice, FR, Mahomet, IL (Mahomet-Seymour HS)
- Erin Roop, SR, Lacrosse, WI (Aquinas HS)
- Jesse Steffens-Willis, SO, St. Louis, MO (Rockwood Summit HS)
- Jordan Struckman, SO, O'Fallon, MO (Francis Howell HS)
- Madison Watts, FR, Rogersville, MO (Logan-Rogersville HS)
Kress and Roop were ITA Scholar Athletes for a third straight year, and Lass earned her second straight award. Webster has earned the All-Academic Team Award five of the past seven seasons. The Gorloks were one of two the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams to qualify for the award in 2016, with Principia College joining them.
Men's Team Also Breaks Mark for Individual Honors
The men's tennis team also won the ITA All-Academic Team award, with six team members named 2016 ITA Scholar Athletes,
the largest number of individual recipients for a single year in men's team history.
The men's tennis team had an impressive 3.49 team grade point average (GPA) for the
2015-2016 year. That GPA easily surpassed the Gorloks' 3.17 in 2014-2015, when they
just missed out on the team award. To qualify for the ITA All-Academic Team Award,
team rosters must maintain a 3.2 GPA for the academic year.
Those qualifying as ITA Scholar Athletes were:
- Eric Bateman, JR, Maryland Heights, MO (Pattonville HS)
- Carlos Gonzalez, SR, Madrid, Spain (Webster-Leiden)
- Juan Granizo, SR, Quito, Ecuador (Colegio Alberto Einstein)
- Matt Lang, SR, St. Louis, MO (Lindbergh HS)
- Ian Powers, FR, Farmington, MO (Farmington HS)
- Zach Selby, SR, Redding, CA (Enterprise HS)
This was Lang's second straight award and Granizo also received the award in 2013-2014, not playing in 2014-2015. The Gorloks were one of just 85 NCAA III programs out of over 400 nationwide to earn the award. Webster was one of two the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams to qualify for the award in 2016, with Principia College also being recognized.