Cal tennis teams honored for academics

As if we didn’t know it already, the California Golden Bears are a special group of student-athletes. Not only do they excel on their court, field or stadium, they also excel in the classroom.

That was affirmed this week when both the women’s and men’s tennis teams were awarded with multiple academic honors including ITA All-Academic Honors selections across the board.

Both teams were awarded the ITA All-Academic Team for their work in the classroom and four Bears from the women’s team and five Bears from the men’s team were given ITA Scholar-Athlete honors.

In order to be named an All-Academic Team, each program must have a team GAP of at least 3.2 or higher, all student-athletes have been listed on the eligibility form and all varsity letterers are to be factored into the cumulative team GPA.

Individual honorees include Anna Bright, Haley Giavara, Valentina Ivanov and Erin Richardson for the women’s team. The men’s team’s honors consisted of Bjorn Hoffmann, Jacob Brumm, Ben Draper, Can Kaya and Jack Molloy.

To be named a Scholar-Athlete from the ITA, each student-athlete must be listed on the same institutional eligibility form and carry at least a 3.5 GPA for the current academic year.

Bright finished her junior year on the Scholar-Athlete list for the second consecutive time as she’s majoring in business administration. She was also a member of the Pac-12’s Spring Academic Honor Roll.

Giavara, Ivanov and Richardson, each rising sophomores and rising stars on the team, earned their first such awards.

For the men’s side of things, Hoffmann graduated last team and won his second straight Scholar-Athlete honor, and third overall. Kaya and Molloy each claimed their second honors as well while Brumm and Draper earned their first honors.

Congratulations to the entire women’s and men’s teams and especially those with the prestigious Scholar-Athlete awards. Way to represent Berkeley!