KALAMAZOO - The Intercollegiate Tennis Association has announced its 2007 ITA Academic Awards. The Western Michigan men's and women's tennis team were both named an ITA All-Academic Team and four men's players and three women's players were named an ITA Scholar-Athlete.
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 2 semesters (including freshman thorough senior year).
The women's tennis team was named an ITA All-Academic Team for a 12th consecutive season with a team GPA of 3.51 during the 2006-07 season. Junior Noriko Saruta, sophomore Kerstin Pahl and freshman Milica Zivanovic were all named ITA Scholar-Athlete.
The men's team was honored for the fourth straight year and the ninth time in the last 10 years with a team GPA of 3.40 last season. The Broncos were one of only 38 Division I men's teams to post a team GPA of 3.20 or higher. 2007 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District IV Men's At-Large First Team honorees Brady Crosby and Alex Birchmeier along with sophomores John Pelton and Milan Petercak were named ITA Scholar-Athletes.