Aug. 8, 2007

The University of Texas-Pan American women's tennis program was selected as one of the squads in the nation to be honored as an All-Academic Scholar Teams by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association that was announced on Wednesday (Aug. 8).

The Lady Broncs were selected as an ITA All-Academic Scholar Team for the third time in four years while three student-athletes earned individual ITA Scholar-Athlete Awards in Silke Buksik (Waiblingen, Germany/Salier-Gymnasium Waiblingen), Stephanie Willerding (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Northview Heights S.S.), and Luisa Cantu (Victoria, Tamps, Mexico/Colegio Jose de Escandon).

Senior Gary Bianco (Annecy, France/Lycee Berthollet) represented the men's side as an ITA-All Academic Scholar Athlete. Bianco was recently named to the 2007 Capital One All-Southland Academic team where he recorded a 3.65 grade point average as a English major.

Buksik became a two-time selection of the ITA-All Academic Scholar Athlete while Willerding, Cantu, and Bianco were honored for the first time in their careers.

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 eligible student-athletes whose names appear on the NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA eligibility form and have competed in one or more varsity matches must average into the GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2006 and spring 2007).

In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet the following criteria (1) be a varsity lettermen, (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 two semesters (including freshman through senior year).

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