Aug. 3, 2004

LAS VEGAS - Both UNLV's men's and women's squads capped off a record-breaking year in the classroom by earning Intercollegiate Tennis Association Academic All-American status, the ITA announced Tuesday. The ITA team award is open to any program that has a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or above. In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must be a varsity letterwinner, have a grade point average of at least 3.50 for the current academic year and have been enrolled at their present school for at least two semesters. In its first year under head coach Owen Hambrook, the men's team earned the honor for the first time in history while a program-record four individuals were named ITA Scholar-Athletes: Aviram Salomon, Romain Massaro, Marko Blagojevic and Milos Blagojevic. Head coach Kevin Cory's women's squad earned the ITA team award for the third consecutive year and for the eighth time in history. Individually honored were Agnieszka Abram, Claire Smith and Lisa Lester. The tennis programs also boasted a league-leading nine players that recently earned the title of 2004 Mountain West Conference Scholar-Athlete. To be eligible for selection, players must have competed during the past season, completed at least two semesters at their school and carry at least a 3.5 grade point average. The men's team led the way with five honorees this year: Marko and Milos Blagojevic, Massaro, Nehles and Salomon. The Lady Rebels that qualified were Abram, Lester, Smith and Mery Constanti. Another combination of nine netters won Academic All-MWC honors: Abram, Constanti, Smith, Cindy Treber and Gyorgyi Zsiros from the Lady Rebels and Marko Blagojevic, Massaro, Nehles and Salomon from the Rebels' roster. To be eligible for selection, a student-athlete must have completed at least one academic term at the member institution, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better and be a starter or significant contributor.

UNLV TENNIS 2004 MWC ACADEMIC HONOREESPLAYER               YEAR       GPAAgnieszka Abram*#%   Senior     3.67Mery Constanti*%     Freshman   3.56Lisa Lester#%        Junior     3.77Claire Smith*#%      Freshman   3.76Cindy Treber*        Sophomore  3.35Gyorgyi Zsiros*      Junior     3.03Marko Blagojevic*#%  Junior     3.81Milos Blagojevic#%   Sophomore  3.55Romain Massaro*#%    Sophomore  3.87Henner Nehles*%      Junior     3.59Aviram Salomon*#%    Junior     3.67* 2004 Academic All-MWC# 2004 ITA Scholar-Athlete%2004 MWC Scholar-Athlete