Men's Tennis Squad, 3 Players Earn Academic Honors from ITA
SKILLMAN, N.J. --- The Moravian College men’s tennis team has earned All-Academic Team honors from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for a second straight year, and three student-athlete recent graduate Brad Kutcha, rising junior Lewis Cooper and sophomore-to-be C.J. Widdifield were named ITA Scholar-Athletes.
SKILLMAN, N.J. --- The Moravian College men's tennis team has earned All-Academic Team honors from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for a second straight year, and three student-athlete recent graduate Brad Kutcha, rising junior Lewis Cooper and sophomore-to-be C.J. Widdifield were named ITA Scholar-Athletes.
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 eligible student-athletes whose names appear on the NCAA/NAIA eligibility form and have competed in one or more matches are averaged into the cumulative grade point average for the current year (including fall 2012 and spring 2013).
The Greyhounds are one of 39 NCAA Division III men's teams to win the ITA All-Academic Team award and only Landmark Conference men's team honored.
For a student-athlete to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete honors, they must maintain at least a 3.50 GPA, earn a varsity letter and be enrolled for at least two semesters. Nearly 350 NCAA Division III male student-athletes were honored.
"Assistant Coach Bill Neal and myself feel that this is a great group of student athletes to work with," said Head Coach Art Smith. "Our players have worked hard in the classroom and on the tennis court. We feel that there is a good chemistry among our guys to not only excel in their course work but to encourage one another to do well."
Kutcha, who was named the Merr Trumbore Men's Tennis Award for 2012-13, posted a 6-15 singles record this past season with a 3-4 in Landmark Conference matches. Kutcha also played doubles for the Greyhounds. He was a three-time member of the Landmark Spring All-Academic Team, and Kutcha earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors for the third straight year.
Cooper was named to the 2013 Landmark All-Conference Second Team in doubles after he and rising sophomore Libario Obeid combined for a 10-5 record at second doubles this past spring. The duo was 6-1 in Landmark Conference matches. In singles action, Cooper had an 8-8 record while playing fourth singles for the spring season after missing the fall portion of the season as a starting midfielder for the Moravian men's soccer squad. Cooper is a two-time ITA Scholar-Athlete Award winner.
Widdifield was 9-14 in singles action this season with an 8-7 slate while playing at sixth singles in dual matches, and he was also 5-2 during the Landmark Conference season. In doubles action, Widdifield had a 6-13 record with Kutcha including a 3-4 mark in Landmark matches, and he had an overall doubles slate of 7-16.
To view the entire 2012-13 NCAA Division III Men's All-Academic Teams and ITA Scholar-Athletes, visit http://www.itatennis.com/AwardsAndRankings/Academic-Awards/2013/2013_Men_DIII_AcademicAwards.htm.
