DePaul University Athletics
Men's Tennis Soars With One of Country's Highest Team GPAs
7/28/2020 1:10:00 PM | MEN'S TENNIS
"Band of Brothers" earns 12th ITA All-Academic Award in last 13 years
CHICAGO – Even though the DePaul men's tennis season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, the Blue Demons still aced their way to another postseason accolade.
For the 11th time in the last 12 years, coach Matt Brothers' program has earned an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team award for posting a team grade-point average of 3.2 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
The spectacular 3.89 team GPA far surpassed the ITA requirement and is among the highest in the nation according to the collegiate tennis organization.
This follows up another distinction earlier in the summer when the "Band of Brothers" won the ITA Community Service Award for the third time in the last four years.
At a university that prides itself competing in the classroom as fiercely as on the athletic field or court and is perennially at or near the top of the BIG EAST in academic prowess, men's tennis was the best of the best.
The racket-swinging Blue Demons posted the highest composite GPA of any DePaul team. That's quite the distinction considering DePaul led the BIG EAST with six different teams earning Team Academic Excellence Awards for the highest GPAs in their respective sports (men's and women's tennis, women's basketball, women's indoor track and field, men's soccer and volleyball).
As a further testament to their concentration and focus---men's tennis recorded a remarkable 3.961 GPA during a spring quarter beset with complete online learning, being sheltered in place, navigating around a deadly global pandemic that is causing economic upheaval and dealing with nationwide protesting over racial injustice that may have ignited a seismic shift.
Talk about a total team effort, there wasn't the proverbial weakest link in this Blue Demon chain of intellectual command.
Every single student-athlete in the Lincoln Park "Band of Brothers"---Christopher Casati, Lars Peder Minsaas, Boris Spanjaard, Fran and Vito Tonejc, Tripp Tuff, Luuk Wassenaar and Tamas Zador---was honored as ITA Scholar-Athlete.
That means all eight on the roster finished with a final GPA of 3.5 or higher, and six of the guys are international students transitioning to English as a second language.
ITA Communications Manager Caroline Huey said that both the men's tennis team GPA and the DePaul women's tennis team (3.85 GPA) are among the highest in the country.
"Both teams have extremely high composite team GPAs, and we are impressed by all the work they did in the classroom," Huey said.
The ITA advocates academia as a key aspect of the college tennis experience. Collegiate tennis players add to the rich intellectual community found on college campuses across the nation.
ITA student-athletes continue to exceed expectations in the classroom and on the court. In 2020, a total of 979 Division I men student-athletes were named an ITA Scholar-Athlete and 186 men's tennis programs were awarded the All-Academic Team distinction.
For the 11th time in the last 12 years, coach Matt Brothers' program has earned an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team award for posting a team grade-point average of 3.2 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
The spectacular 3.89 team GPA far surpassed the ITA requirement and is among the highest in the nation according to the collegiate tennis organization.
This follows up another distinction earlier in the summer when the "Band of Brothers" won the ITA Community Service Award for the third time in the last four years.
At a university that prides itself competing in the classroom as fiercely as on the athletic field or court and is perennially at or near the top of the BIG EAST in academic prowess, men's tennis was the best of the best.
The racket-swinging Blue Demons posted the highest composite GPA of any DePaul team. That's quite the distinction considering DePaul led the BIG EAST with six different teams earning Team Academic Excellence Awards for the highest GPAs in their respective sports (men's and women's tennis, women's basketball, women's indoor track and field, men's soccer and volleyball).
As a further testament to their concentration and focus---men's tennis recorded a remarkable 3.961 GPA during a spring quarter beset with complete online learning, being sheltered in place, navigating around a deadly global pandemic that is causing economic upheaval and dealing with nationwide protesting over racial injustice that may have ignited a seismic shift.
Talk about a total team effort, there wasn't the proverbial weakest link in this Blue Demon chain of intellectual command.
Every single student-athlete in the Lincoln Park "Band of Brothers"---Christopher Casati, Lars Peder Minsaas, Boris Spanjaard, Fran and Vito Tonejc, Tripp Tuff, Luuk Wassenaar and Tamas Zador---was honored as ITA Scholar-Athlete.
That means all eight on the roster finished with a final GPA of 3.5 or higher, and six of the guys are international students transitioning to English as a second language.
ITA Communications Manager Caroline Huey said that both the men's tennis team GPA and the DePaul women's tennis team (3.85 GPA) are among the highest in the country.
"Both teams have extremely high composite team GPAs, and we are impressed by all the work they did in the classroom," Huey said.
The ITA advocates academia as a key aspect of the college tennis experience. Collegiate tennis players add to the rich intellectual community found on college campuses across the nation.
ITA student-athletes continue to exceed expectations in the classroom and on the court. In 2020, a total of 979 Division I men student-athletes were named an ITA Scholar-Athlete and 186 men's tennis programs were awarded the All-Academic Team distinction.
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