Fresno State Athletics
Bulldogs Honored With ITA Academic Awards
8/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Aug. 13, 2004
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State women's tennis team and four of its players have been honored by being named to the All-Academic Team by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. 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). The Bulldogs, who in the fall 2003 semester posted five of their top six players on the Dean's List, compiled a 3.29 GPA, one of the top numbers for any sport at Fresno State. In addition to the team honors, Lucia Tallo, Courtney Jantz, Katharina Winterhalter and Jelena Pandzic each were selected to the ITA All-Academic squad. The four were a vital part in helping the Bulldogs win their third WAC title in a row and eventually advance to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in program history. Fresno State wound up going 22-4 on the year, the second-most wins in school history. Academic awards are nothing new to the women's tennis team. Tallo has been an Academic All-WAC honoree twice and last year was named a Harold Haak Scholarship Award recipient, presented annually to a male and female student-athlete of junior eligibility who have posted at least a 3.5 GPA for two consecutive semesters, lettered in his or her sport and have maintained continuing eligibility. In addition, Winterhalter and Jantz have both been honored as Academic All-WAC multiple times in their careers. Just a freshman, Pandzic enjoyed the most successful season ever for a women's tennis player. She went 29-2 and reached the championship match of the NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament. Pandzic was named the WAC Player of the Year and the WAC Freshman of the Year, making her the first player in conference history to achieve both honors in the same season. 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).
