The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team was recently honored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association with its All-Academic Team Award. In addition, five Lady Mocs were named ITA Scholar-Athletes for their work in the classroom over the last year.

The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any program that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above. All student-athletes whose names appear on the eligibility form and have competed in one or more varsity matches must average into the g.

p.a. for the current academic year, including fall 2011 and spring 2012.

The Lady Mocs were well above the 3.2 requirement, posting a 3.52 team g.p.a. in 2011-12. This included a program record 3.66 semester g.p.a. in the spring.

"I am extremely proud of our student-athletes' academic achievements this past year," stated head coach Jeff Clark. "We have a motivated, hard-working and intelligent group of young women who have learned to excel both in the classroom and on the tennis court. They represent Chattanooga well."

UTC went 16-6 in the 2012 spring season, the most wins for the program since 1999. Freshman Kaylene Chadwell (Franklin, Tenn.) was one of the five honored with the individual ITA Scholar-Athlete Award. She was 23-10 in singles, 25-10 in doubles and named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year. She also posted a 3.90 g.p.a. in 2011-12, including a perfect 4.0 in the spring.

Chadwell was joined by seniors Shaina Singh (Vancouver, B.C.) and Brianna Wishing (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), junior Jenna Nurik (Roswell, Ga.) and sophomore Alexa Flynn (Memphis, Tenn.) as ITA Scholar-Athletes.

Nurik was a first team All-SoCon pick after going 24-12 on the year. She had a perfect 4.0 g.p.a. in both semesters of the 2011-12 academic year. Singh graduated with a degree in Biology in May, finishing with a 3.58 in her final year. She was 20-12 in singles action. Wishing won both of her singles matches during the spring dual season, and posted a 3.90 g.p.a. She graduated with a degree in Health & Human performance in the spring.

Sophomore Alexa Flynn was 19-10 in singles last season and had a 3.54 g.p.a. as a Political Science major. 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 2 semesters (including freshman thorough senior year).