[August 18, 2006]

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) has announced that 37 teams, including Southern Arkansas University, have been named 2006 NCAA Division II All-Academic Teams. The Lady Muleriders were the only team from the Gulf South Conference to receive the honor.

To receive ITA All-Academic honors, SAU had to post a cumulative team GPA of at least 3.20 on a 4-point scale.

Only seven individuals from the GSC were honored as ITA Scholar-Athletes for this past academic year, four from Southern Arkansas. They include Sarah Awe, a graduate student from Melbourne, Fla.; Aneeka Bhalla, a sophomore of Nepean, Canada; Nelly Tualla, a junior from Nacogdoches, Texas; and Rachel Vinsant, a sophomore of Greenville, Texas. A total of 164 tennis student-athletes made the elite list from the nation’s Division II schools.

To earn the ITA Scholar-Athlete honor, a student must be a varsity letter-winner, post at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA on a 4-point scale, and have been enrolled at their present institution for at least two semesters.

This was the second consecutive year that the Lady Muleriders were named as an all-academic team, and the second consecutive year that Bhalla, Tualla, and Vinsant were recognized as scholar-athletes.

#SAU#