Aug. 11, 2008

Fairfield, CT - The Sacred Heart University women's tennis team, under head coach Mike Guastelle, earned the distinction of being an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team for the seventh straight year, it was announced today by the ITA. Along with earning team honors, six of Guastelle's players earned ITA Scholar Athlete honors.

Sacred Heart was also honored for the second consecutive year by the Northeast Conference for having the highest women's tennis grade point average in the NEC, posting an impressive 3.403 team GPA.

Earning ITA Scholar-Athlete honors for the Pioneers was Jessica Schnell (Schnectady, NY) who graduated earning the honor for three years at SHU. Junior Julianne Kasinow (Wall, NJ) earned her second straight ITA Scholar Athlete award along with first time recipients Ashley Amalfe (Clark, NJ), Elizabeth Harrington (Westerly, RI), Britany Price (Meriden, CT) and Lindsey Scierka (Cromwell, CT).

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. All eligible student-athletes whose names appear on the NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA/CAJUCO 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 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 2 semesters. This award honors freshman through seniors year.