TEMPE, Ariz. --- Eleven student-athletes from the Moravian University men's and women's tennis teams have been selected as 2023 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athletes and both the men's and women's squads also received the ITA All-Academic Team award.
Seniors Andrew Hozza, Kieran Pisani and Justin Szaro, sophomores Zachary Lebby, Wyatt Marshall and Ronny Pimentel Ferrer and freshman Shayaan Farhad from the men's team and juniors Julianne Cassady, Maddie Figiel and Cristina Merone and junior Gabby Martin from the women's squad were named ITA Scholar-Athletes with Hozza, Szaro and Merone all received the honor for a fourth straight year and Cassady was honored for a third consecutive year.
"I am very pleased that both our men and women received team and individual ITA-Academic honors," stated Director of Tennis Mariana Freitas. "This was a goal that we set for our program in the beginning of the year as we keep academics as one of our main focuses. Both teams did a great job in the classroom this year, and both worked extremely hard on and off the court."
For a student-athlete to 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. Thousands of student-athletes across all divisions were honored with ITA Scholar-Athlete status and hundreds of teams earned the ITA All-Academic Team award for maintaining at least a 3.20 GPA. All varsity letter winners were factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2022 and spring 2023).
Hozza, who also played on the Greyhounds' golf team, was 5-0 in singles action and 1-0 doubles while Pisani had an 8-5 singles slate and a 15-6 doubles mark. Szaro recorded a 1-3 mark in singles and a 2-1 slate in doubles while Lebby went 8-6 in singles action and 2-1 in doubles play. Marshall posted a 12-4 singles record and a 15-4 doubles mark with Pimentel Ferrer, who also recorded a 10-5 singles mark. Farhad was the 2023 Landmark Conference Men's Tennis Rookie of the Year, and he earned spots on the Landmark All-Conference First Team in singles and Second Team in doubles after posting records of 10-9 in first singles and 9-10 in doubles action.
Cassady, who made the Landmark All-Conference First Team in both singles and doubles, had a 12-9 mark at first singles and was 16-6 in doubles action while Figiel was an All-Conference First Team honoree in singles and Second Team in doubles after posting a 17-1 slate at second singles and combining with Merone for a school record 20-2 mark at second doubles. Merone, who also made the All-Conference Second Team in doubles, recorded a 16-5 singles record while Martin was 1-0 in singles action this past season.
To view the entire list of 2023 ITA All-Academic Teams and ITA Scholar-Athletes, visit https://www.wearecollegetennis.com/tag/ita-academic-awards/.
