VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State men's and women's tennis teams had a strong contingent of student-athletes named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Teams and Scholar-Athletes, announced this week by the organization.
 
On the men's side, the Blazers were one of 78 NCAA Division II institutions named to the All-Academic Team, while they were one of six men's teams from the Gulf South Conference to earn the team honor.  Eight Blazer student-athletes earned Scholar-Athlete accolades including seniors Rodrigo Carvalho, Luca Mack, Christian Wedel, juniors Boruch Skierkier, Takeshi Taco, Xaveam Van Wijk, sophomore Jan Skerbatis and freshman Matteo Castellazzi.  
 
For the women's team, VSU was one of seven GSC institutions to earn team honors, while the Blazers had four individual honorees including freshmen Denisa Hanakova, Natalie Rainke and juniors Viktoriia Fedorova and Olivia Pezo.  VSU was one of six GSC institutions to have both the men's and women's programs earn All-Academic honors (team).  
 
West Georgia had 11 student-athletes recognized as ITA Scholar-Athletes, the most by any GSC member regardless of gender. West Florida women and Montevallo followed with 10 representatives apiece.
 
In order to be named an ITA Scholar-Athlete, a student-athlete must have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year and be listed on the institutional eligibility form.

To be named an ITA All-Academic Team, programs must have a team grade point average of 3.2 or above (on a 4.00 scale), all student-athletes included should be on the institutional eligibility form, and all varsity letter winners should be factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year.