Aug. 11, 2006

The University of Texas-Pan American tennis programs were selected as one of 22 squads in the nation to have both its men's and women's teams honored as All-Academic Scholar Teams by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

The Lady Broncs were selected as an ITA All-Academic Scholar Team for the second time in three years while three student-athletes earned individual ITA Scholar-Athlete Awards in Elysia Sloan (Duncanville, TX/Duncanville H.S.), Silke Buksik (Waiblingen, Germany/Salier-Gymnasium Waiblingen) and Jessica Nanez (Hidalgo, TX/Hidalgo H.S.).

The Broncs were cited with ITA All-Academic Scholar Team for the second time in three years, which was highlighted by a pair of selections in freshmen Enrique Montemayor (Brownsville, TX/Hanna H.S.) and Rosendo Cantu (Houston, TX/Cesar E. Chavez H.S.).

"I'm incredibly proud and delighted with the academic achievements of both the men's and women's tennis programs. On an individual basis, I'm equally excited about the performance of Silke, Elysia, Jessica, Enrique and Rosendo. Kudos should also be extended to Garry Gibson (UTPA Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Support and Student Services) and Vanessa Cobarrubias (Academic Counselor) for their help with our teams achieving these awards. The awards are a confirmation that these young men and women are not just athletes, but in fact, are truly student-athletes," said head men's and women's tennis coach Rob Hubbard.

The Broncs and Lady Broncs were both honored as ITA All-Academic Scholar Teams in the same season for the second time in three seasons. All five UTPA student-athletes were honored by the ITA 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 eligibility form and have competed in one or more varsity matches must average into the GPA for the current academic year.

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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