BREVARD, N.C. – A grand total of seven Brevard College women's tennis student-athletes have been selected as Scholar Athletes by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). This count brings BC's all-time Scholar-Athlete honoree list to 53. Additionally, the Tornados were selected as an All-Academic Team for the seventh-consecutive year, and the 10^th time overall.
 
Madison Bowen, Hannah Hersh, Jada Ore, Gracie Spangler, Ava Thrift, Sophie Trantham, and Casey Wampler were all selected as ITA Scholar Athletes for the 2024-25 academic year.
 
Academia is an essential aspect of the college tennis experience. Collegiate tennis players add to the rich intellectual community found on college campuses nationwide.

To be named an ITA Scholar-Athlete, one must meet the following requirements:

• have a grade point average of at least 3.5 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and
• be listed on the institutional eligibility form.

To be named an ITA All-Academic Team, programs must meet the following requirements:

• have a team grade point average of 3.2 or above (on a 4.00 scale),
• all student-athletes included should be listed on the institutional eligibility form, and
• all varsity letter winners should be factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year.

 
Recent BC graduates Hersh and Trantham completed the career sweep, as the duo earned Scholar-Athlete honors all four years of their collegiate careers. Bowen, Ore, Spangler, and Thrift were all named as ITA Scholar Athletes for the second time in their Tornado careers, while Wampler makes her inaugural appearance on the list.
 
About the ITA:

Originally founded in 1956 by the legendary UCLA men's tennis coach, J. D. Morgan, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body of college tennis, overseeing men's and women's varsity tennis at all levels – NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College. Officially incorporated in 1978 as the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association (ITCA), for over the past four decades the ITA has worked hard to achieve its charter goals: (1) "To foster and encourage the playing of intercollegiate tennis in accordance with the highest tradition of sportsmanship and consistent with the general objectives of higher education." (2) "To develop among the intercollegiate coaches a deeper sense of responsibility in teaching, promoting, maintaining, and conducting the game of tennis." And, (3) "To educate and serve those individuals and groups who are involved in collegiate tennis: junior and college players, their coaches and parents, and the at-large tennis public."
 
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