UMSL Tennis Programs Earn National Academic Accolades

Six Student-Athletes Named ITA Scholar Athletes

St. Louis, Mo. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s and women’s tennis teams both received national academic honors from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for this past school year. The women’s team was named one of 29 Division II teams to earn All-Academic Team honors, while six total student-athletes on both the men’s and women’s teams earned ITA Scholar Athlete recognition individually.

The UMSL women’s tennis team had a combined grade point average of 3.32 for the 2002-03 school year. The women’s team was one of three GLVC programs to earn this honor and one of 29 NCAA Division II teams. Three student-athletes on the team were a big factor in that average, earning individual ITA Student Athlete honors. Those three were sophomore Devin Foy (Belleville, Ill./Belleville East), freshman Neringa Bandzeviciute (Kaunas, Lithuania) and freshman Krissy Howard (Gillette, Wyo./Campbell County). These three were among 99 individuals at the Division II level to earn this honor, and were three of the 11 GLVC student-athletes to be honored.

Howard had an impressive freshman season for UMSL, going 6-6 in singles matches and 8-7 in doubles matches. Howard, a nursing major, was 5-4 playing at the number two singles spot on the season. Foy is a nursing major who saw most of her time at the one singles spot for UMSL, finishing with a 2-9 record in singles play and was 8-7 overall in doubles matches. Bandzeviciute finished the season with a 3-2 record in singles play and was 5-8 in doubles matches. Earlier this spring, all three student-athletes were named GLVC Academic All-Conference selections as well.

The UMSL men’s tennis team had three student-athletes earn ITA Scholar Athlete awards this past school year as well. The three student-athletes were senior Martin Kardos (Bratislava, Slovakia), junior Matt Vaulkhard (Victoria, British Columbia) and freshman Rajan Saini (Victoria, British Columbia). All three were instrumental in helping the team earn its second consecutive bid to the NCAA Regionals. These three student-athletes represented three of the four student-athletes from the GLVC to earn this national academic honor.

Kardos, an international business major, finished his career at UMSL by going 11-6 in singles play, including a perfect 7-0 at the number two spot. He was equally impressive in doubles matches, going 14-3 on the year while earning GLVC All-Conference honors as well as Academic All-Conference honors. Vaulkhard is a biology major who finished with a 13-5 overall singles record last year, including a 5-3 record at the one spot and 8-2 at the two spot. He was 14-5 in doubles matches and earned GLVC All-Conference honors for the second time in his three years at UMSL, and was named an Academic All-Conference selection. Saini was in his first season at UMSL and went 10-4 in singles matches, including 10-2 at five singles, and 10-3 in doubles play. He is a business major and was also named a GLVC Academic All-Conference selection.

The ITA All-Academic Team award is given to a program that maintains a team grade point average of 3.20 or higher. The individual ITA Scholar Athlete award is given to student-athletes must be a letterwinner for the team and maintain a grade point average of 3.50 or higher.