Pioneer Tennis Teams Garner Academic Honors

July 20, 2009

2009 ITA Scholar Athlete Awards

FAIRFIELD, CT - The Sacred Heart men's and women's tennis teams combined to place 11 student-athletes on the 2009 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar Athlete list. The Pioneer women, who tied for the having the most scholar athletes of any Division I program, were recognized as an ITA All-Academic Team for the eighth-straight year for having a team grade point average of 3.20 or higher.

The Pioneer women placed seven student-athletes on the scholar athlete team tying them with Stephen F. Austin and Arkansas Little Rock for the most in the nation. Leading the way for Sacred Heart was Julie Kasinow (Wall, NJ) who ears ITA Scholar Athlete honors for the third-straight season.

Joining Kasinow as a return recipients are teammates Ashley Amalfe (Clark, NJ), Nicole Betz (Long Beach, NY) and Elizabeth Harrington (Westerly, RI) who take home scholar-athlete honors for the second time. Three Pioneer freshmen took home the honor this season in Kristina Chao (Needham, MA), Kate Donnelly (Centerville, MA) and Delaney Downing (Englewood, CO).

On the men's side, four Pioneers from the 2009 Northeast Conference Championship squad earned ITA Scholar Athlete honors. Seniors Matthew Cook (Milford, CT) and Joseph Lanciotti (Fort Solonga, NY) were joined by teammates Jinal Shah (Mombass, Kenya) and Chris Ujkic (Mattituck, NY) on this year's team. It is the second appearance for Lanciotti.

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 eligible student-athletes whose names appear on the NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA eligibility form and have competed in one or more varsity matches must average into the GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2008 and spring 2009).

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 (including freshman thorough senior year).

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