August 11, 2006

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech women's tennis team has been selected as one of the recipients of the 2006 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team award. Additionally, Virginia Tech had five women and four men named 2006 ITA Scholar Athletes. Anat Elazari, Inga Beermann, Ashley James, Natalie Kretzer and Jessica Long were selected from the women's team while Albert Larregola, Arvid Puranen, Ignaci Roca and Akil Burgess were chosen from the men's squad.

The team award marks the sixth time the women's team has received the honor. The Hokies previously received the award in five consecutive years from 1997-2001.

Elazari, a senior on the 05-06 team from Tiberias, Israel, majored industrial engineering. She helped the Hokies to a No. 67 national ranking and totalled 33 combined singles and doubles victories. Beermann, a freshman from Bad Salzuflen, Germany, and an architecture major, was the first Tech women's player to be selected to participate in the NCAA Championships. Beermann concluded the year ranked No. 52 nationally after compiling a 29-9 singles record. She was named to the All-ACC Academic team and also was an all-conference selection. James, a junior from Williamsburg, Va., is a building construction major who won 20 singles and 18 doubles contests. Kretzer, a freshman from Chestefield, Va. and a university studies major, picked up ten combined singles and doubles victories in limited action. Long, a sophomore from Elizabethtown, Pa., is a biology major. She recorded 12 singles victories on the year.

On the men's side, Larregola, a sophomore and a university studies major from Lleida, Spain, had a solid season with a 21-14 overall record playing at the Nos. 2-3 positions. Puranen, a junior from Lulea, Sweden, majored in industrial and systems engineering. He posted a 20-15 singles record and qualified for the NCAA Championships. Puranen concluded the year with a No. 54 national ranking. Roca, a sophomore general engineering major from San Jose, Costa Rica, and Burgess, a junior from St. Michael, Barbados who is also a general engineering major, saw limited playing this past season.

All-Academic team winners must have a 3.20 cumulative team grade point average. In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status, a player must be a varsity letter winner, 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.