DAHLONEGA – The University of North Georgia men's and women's tennis programs earned an abundance of academic accolades from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), the association announced Tuesday. 

Pairing a duo of historic seasons on the court, the Nighthawk tennis programs were outstanding in the classroom as well. Both teams have been named an ITA All-Academic Team for achieving a team grade point average above 3.2 this season. 

Additionally, each team had four honorees who were named as ITA Scholar Athletes. These eight players all earned a GPA above 3.5 for the 2023-24 academic year. 

For the men's team, seniors Joaquin Benoit, Christopher Cahour and Giulio Sassi joined freshman Marcos Castellanos as Scholar Athletes. This is the first distinction as an ITA Scholar Athlete for all four players. The three seniors have all made regular appearances on the Peach Belt Conference Presidential Honor Roll and Teams of Academic Distinction while Cahour has gone above and beyond having won the PBC Elite 18 Award this year as the competitor with the highest GPA among all individuals at the men's tennis conference tournament. 

On the women's team, seniors Johanna Lippert, Svetlana Teterina and Viktorie Wojcikova teamed up with junior Ashley Moinard to round out the academic selections. Lippert and Teterina are the only repeat winners after having won the same honor in 2021. 

With four players from each program being named a Scholar Athlete this year, the men's program has now earned 15 ITA Scholar Athletes in program history while the women's team has earned 19. Under head coach Kent Norsworthy, 34 total student athletes have been named an ITA Scholar Athlete since 2020.