SPORTS

 

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Davidson women’s tennis team was recently honored for its excellence in the classroom by earning Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) 2019 All-Academic Team honor, while three Wildcats were named Scholar Athletes by the association.

The trio of rising seniors Alexandra Abele and Samantha Armas, and rising sophomore Mira Gladstone were each named scholar athletes.

It’s the first time since 2016 Davidson was honored as an all-academic team, while it’s the sixth time in the past nine seasons at least one player earned ITA Scholar Athlete honors. The ITA All-Academic awards date back to 2002.

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). In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet the following criteria: 1.) be a varsity letter winner, 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).

Abele and Armas both excelled in the classroom as well as on the court, each being named to the Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, while Abele earned one of six spots on the A-10 All-Academic Team this past season.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Abele was named to the A-10 All-Second Team for the third straight season this past year. She recorded her third consecutive double-digit win season in singles by going 14-8 with a 4-4 conference record. Ten of those wins came at the No. 2 position, while she added another three victories at No. 3. 

Abele picked up 13 more wins in doubles, teaming up with Armas at the No. 2 position for 12 of those victories. The duo started the year with four straight wins and then topped that by rattling off a season-best five-match win streak from Feb. 9 to March 4.

Armas, a native of Acworth, Ga., had a career junior season, going a personal-best 15-7 in singles and tying her career high with 12 doubles wins. She was 12-7 in singles at the No. 4 position. The rising senior won her first career weekly award with the A-10 Player of the Week, Jan. 23, after going 2-0 on the week in singles and keeping her personal-best winning streak intact dating back to the end of the 2018 season at seven straight.

As a freshman, Gladstone saw action in nine singles matches. She opened her collegiate career with a pair of wins vs. UNC Asheville and Queens on her way to a 4-5 record, all coming at No. 6. The Port Orange, Fla., native, who was named to the A-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, also scored a doubles win with Abele at No. 3 in the match vs. Queens.

Davidson as a team went 14-11 overall and advanced to the semifinals of the A-10 Championship, the second time it had gone that far since joining the league in 2014-15.