Tuesday, August 5, 2003

MORAVIAN WOMEN’S TENNIS NAMED ITA ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM;
FIVE GREYHOUNDS NAMED ITA SCHOLAR-ATHLETES

SKILLMAN, NJ --- The 2002 Moravian College women’s tennis team, which won its third consecutive Middle Atlantic Conference championship last fall, has been named a 2003 Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team for the second consecutive year.

Five of the Greyhounds’ individual players, senior Jennifer Genevese (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall HS), junior Lauren Castagna (Mt. Bethel, PA/Bangor HS), sophomores Julie Anderson (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty HS) and Becky Deringer (Allentown, PA/Dieruff HS) and freshman Nicole Gruber (Lebanon, PA/Lebanon HS), earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors for maintaining at least a 3.20 GPA, earning a varsity letter and being enrolled for at least two semesters.

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 eligibility form and have competed in one or more matches are averaged into the cumulative grade point average.

A total of 213 NCAA schools earn the ITA All-Academic Award, and 28 NAIA schools were honored with the largest number, 72 programs, coming from the NCAA Division I women’s programs.

Moravian was one of 45 NCAA Division III women’s teams to win the ITA All-Academic award, and one of three from the MAC to earn the honors. Drew University and King’s College also achieved team accolades.

Genevese, who was named a Verizon Academic All-American this past spring, had a 15-5 singles record with a 12-2 first singles record. Genevese was a member of the Commonwealth All-Conference Team for the second straight year. Genevese reached the semifinals of the 2002 MAC Individual Tournament as the number three seed, and she finished her career with a 53-13 singles record. Castagna had a 16-2 singles record and 11-1 at third singles.

Deringer posted a 12-6 singles record and 12-3 at second singles and was a member of the 2002 All-Conference Team. Deringer and Genevese had a 14-2 doubles record together with a 12-1 first doubles record. Deringer has a career mark of 27-7 with two seasons left. Gruber posted a 7-8 singles record while Anderson was 3-2 in doubles competition last fall.

A total of 980 NCAA student-athletes earn the ITA Scholar-Athlete Award, and 86 NAIA student-athletes were honored with the largest number, 301 student-athletes, coming from the NCAA Division I women’s programs. Moravian’s five players were part of the second largest group honored, 203 student-athletes from NCAA Division III women’s programs.

Moravian will open its 2003 season on Wednesday, September 3rd in a non-conference home match with King’s College beginning at 4:00 p.m.