July 22, 2016

Five Eagles named ITA Scholar Athletes

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Carson-Newman men’s tennis team had five individuals receive Scholar Athlete honors from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for the 2015-2016 academic year the association announced Thursday afternoon.

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Carson-Newman men's tennis team had five individuals receive Scholar Athlete honors from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for the 2015-2016 academic year the association announced Thursday afternoon.

The quintuple of athletes Carson-Newman sported when the article was released were Jesus Bacete-Sanz (Madrid, Spain), Marc Bantel (Urbach, Germany), Kevin Mendes (Woodstock, Ga.), Joao Pedro Oliveira (Brazil) and Kyle Sills (Brownsville, Tenn.).

All of the athletes performed in a big way on the courts for the program over the course of the past season while also keeping their grades in tact in the classroom to receive the distinguished honor.

Sills led the way with a 4.0 GPA in 32 hours totaled between both fall and spring semesters. Mendes finished off with a 3.87 GPA while Bantel contributed a 3.69 count in 30 credit hours. Both Bacete-Sanz and Oliveira concluded the past academic year with a 3.64 GPA while taking part in 34 school hours over the year.

The five ITA men Academic Scholars from Carson-Newman join forces with Patricia Guerriero (Fernao-Ferro, Portugal), Gabrielle Wood (Woodstock, Ga.), Merry Carson (Huntsville, Tenn.) and Haleigh Chastain (Knoxville, Tenn.) on the women's side, totaling nine Academic ITA Scholars for the institution under coach Jean Love's guidance.

Carson-Newman's Academic Coach Gloria Walker spoke highly of the program for the accomplishments in the classroom.

"This is a direct result of the commitment of our coaches to strive for academic excellence at Carson-Newman University," Walker said. "As academic coach, I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of these amazing young men and women and the continued commitment of Coach Jean Love. Congratulations to all!"

The Caron-Newman men's tennis team is one of eight South Atlantic Conference men's tennis programs who held ITA Scholar Athletes on their respected rosters this past academic year. The other programs who received distinct honors from around the league were Anderson, Brevard, Coker, Mars Hill, Newberry, Tusculum and Wingate.

More than 4,200 scholar-athletes were recognized across all divisions, along with over 700
all-academic teams. The ITA All-Academic Team award was open to any ITA program that had 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 2015 and spring 2016.

In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status, a player must meet the following criteria: being a varsity letter winner, having a grade point average of at least 3.50 on a 4.00 scale for the current academic year and having been enrolled at their present school for at least two semesters, including freshman through senior year.

"I am very happy for these student-athletes to receive recognition. It is a resume builder for these young people and it indicates that they are achievement-oriented, goal-driven, dedicated, and able to manage time wisely," Love said. "I love to see people maximizing their God-given talents on and off the tennis court. It is one of the real joys in coaching. I also want to give a shout out to Coach Gloria Walker and the other coaches in the Academic Success Center. These people set the tone on a daily basis and help as well as encourage all students."

The Eagles concluded their 2015-2016 with a 6-14 overall record while Juan Sebastian Perez (Ecuador) received All-SAC honors.

The Carson-Newman men's tennis team will finish off the remainder of the summer before returning to campus to prepare for the 2016-2017 season in Mossy Creek.