Women’s Tennis: Cajuns Earn ITA All-Academic Team Award

Five Cajuns named to ITA Scholar-Athlete list 

LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s tennis team picked up honors during the summer, earning the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team Award for the third straight season, head coach Stephanie Vallejos announced on Monday.
 
Five members of the 2015-16 team – Dana Brankovic, Melissa Burckhartt, Juliette Clement, Kelly Drew and Carla Ortega – were named to the ITA Scholar-Athlete list for posting a 3.5 grade point average or better during the 2015-16 season.
 
"Doing well academically and raising the team GPA became something they started to expect of themselves," Vallejos, who enters her second year at UL, said. "While excelling in the classroom, they did not cut back on any on-court effort so I am very proud of what they were able to accomplish."
 
Louisiana posted an 11-10 record during the spring last season – its first winning record since 2013. Burckhartt and Drew became the first Ragin’ Cajuns to earn All-Sun Belt Conference honors since 2001.
 
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 varsity letter winners should be 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: 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 through senior year).