Lucas Santana
Georgia State University Team Page
ATLANTA—The Georgia State men’s tennis team earned distinction as an ITA All-Academic Team and two of its seniors were named ITA Scholar Athletes as announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
Seniors Lucas Santana and Victor Valente, who each earned President’s List honors as students with a 4.0 GPA or higher last semester, earned ITA Scholar Athlete recognition. Both add the first-time selections to a growing list of academic achievement honors collected throughout their stellar Georgia State careers.
The men’s tennis team posted a 3.55 team grade point average in the fall semester and a 3.25 team grade point average in the spring semester last year. The 3.55 team GPA in the fall was the highest among all men’s sports at Georgia State.
Valente maintains a 4.1 GPA while majoring in computer information systems at Georgia State. He was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as a member of the Capital One Academic All-District team in May. In three seasons, Valente has won 51 singles matches and 40 doubles matches representing Georgia State.
Santana owns 43 singles victories and 33 doubles wins in his three seasons competing for Georgia State. He majors in journalism and maintains a 4.0 GPA. Santana received the Bruce LaBudde Sportsmanship Award at the GSU awards banquet in the spring of 2011.
The ITA All-Academic Team award is given to a team that has a cumulative team GPA of 3.20 or above. All eligible student-athletes whose names appear on the NCAA eligibility form and have competed in one or more varsity matches must average into the GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2011 and spring 2012).
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 two semesters (including freshman through senior year).
Georgia State enters the 2012-13 season under new leadership in first-year head coach Joerg Barthel. The Panthers return to the courts in September for fall tournaments after posting a 20-5 record last season. Visit the men’s tennis page on www.GeorgiaStateSports.com for all the latest news as the team prepares for its first season under Barthel in 2012-13.
