GREENVILLE, N.C. – For the eighth consecutive year, the ECU women’s tennis team earned the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team award while six individuals were named ITA Scholar-Athletes.

“I am very proud of our team’s commitment to academic excellence this past year,” said head coach Tom Morris. “We had a great year on the court as well as in the classroom and in our community service efforts. This award is a great tribute to all of their hard work and dedication.”

All six Pirate honorees were named ITA Scholar-Athletes for at least the second time. Celia Ruiz closes her outstanding collegiate career with her third straight ITA Scholar-Athlete honor. Along with Ruiz, Nastja Rettich and Lisa Hofbauer were also named ITA Scholar-Athletes for the third consecutive season, having earned the award in each of their three seasons in Greenville. Sofia Anthony, Alisa Diercksen and Victoria Dixon were all chosen for the second straight year.

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 varsity letter winners are factored into the cumulative team GPA from the 2018-19 academic year. In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status, a player must have a grade point average of 3.50 or above for the current academic year.

ECU finished the 2019 season with a 22-3 record, marking the first time in program history that the Pirates had won at least 20 matches. The 22 wins all came in one winning streak which was the longest streak in the team’s history. During that streak, the ITA ranked ECU No. 49 in the country, the highest-ranking that ECU has ever earned.

Along with the success on the court and in the classroom, ECU also earned the ITA Community Service Award for the Carolina Region as the Pirates performed 444 hours of community service during the 2018-19 school year.