SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) recently announced its All-Academic Teams as well as its Scholar Athletes for the 2014-15 season. Five members of the Lyons squad were named Scholar-Athletes. In addition, the program picked up All-Academic Team accolades.
As a team, the Lyons were recognized for the 12th straight season. In total, it was the 13th time in the last 14 years that the team has earned All-Academic honors.
Individually, five student-athletes were named 2015 Scholar-Athletes by the organization including junior Michelle Cai (Hong Kong, China/St. Paul's Co-Educational College), senior Sarah Anischik (Tolland, Conn./Tolland), sophomore Amy Chen (Hilo, Hawaii/Hilo) and first years Katherine Schumacher (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Charles W. Baker) and Madeline Derentz (Danville, Calif./The Athenian School).
For Anischik, it marked her fourth straight Scholar-Athlete honors, while it was the third straight year for Cai.
The Lyons posted a 14-9 record during the 2014-15 campaign, going 4-4 in NEWMAC play. Mount Holyoke appeared in the NEWMAC Playoffs for the ninth consecutive season, advanced to the semifinals for the fifth time in program history. Highlighting the year was first year Ishita Tibrewal (Kolkata, India/Modern High School for Girls), who posted a 16-8 overall record in singles action, including an 11-3 mark from the fourth flight, along with a team-best 5-2 record in NEWMAC play.
Also posting solid contributions for the Lyons was sophomore Alexa Colas (Teaneck, N.J./The Dwight-Englewood School), who posted a 14-6 record in singles, including a 5-3 record during conference play. MHC went on to finish third at the Seven Sisters Championship with Tibrewal and Chen earning All-Tournament Team distinction.
In order to earn Scholar-Athlete status, a student-athlete must be a varsity letter recipient, have a grade point average of at least 3.50 for the current academic year and have been enrolled at their institution for at least two semesters. To qualify as an All-Academic Team, a program must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.20.
