Five FAMU tennis players earn ITA academic recognition
Special to the Outlook
Five FAMU tennis players were recently named Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athletes, with four coming from the women’s program.
In 2020, 979 Division I men student-athletes and 1,430 Division I women student-athletes were named an ITA Scholar-Athlete. In addition, 186 men’s programs and 244 women’s programs were awarded the All-Academic Team distinction.
“I am proud of the ladies that made the scholar team and for the rest of the team for contributing for us to make the all-academic team,” head women’s tennis coach Rochelle “Nikki” Houston said. “These young ladies made sure that they took care of business in the classroom. One thing we always stress is to make sure they do well in the classroom and these young ladies accomplished that this year.”
FAMU had four women’s tennis student-athletes – Aylen Hubeaut, Arielle Nealy, Haleigh Porter and Karen Machisa – who were named scholar-athletes, while Eliott Ekindi was among the honorees on the men’s side. Both teams also earned ITA All-Academic Team honors.
The ITA recognized academia as a key aspect of the college tennis experience and collegiate tennis players add to the rich intellectual community found on college campuses across the nation.
To be named to an ITA Scholar-Athlete, the student-athlete must have a grade point average of least 3.5 for the current academic year and be listed on the institutional eligibility form.
The requirements to be named an ITA All-Academic Team include having a team grade point average of 3.2 or above. Additionally, all student-athletes included should be listed on the institutional eligibility form, and all varsity letter winners should be factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year.
