University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Women's Tennis Tabbed ITA All-Academic Team
July 20, 2019 | Women's Tennis
TEMPE, Ariz. โ UCLA women's tennis was recognized as an ITA All-Academic Team for 2019, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced Thursday. The award marked back-to-back honors for head coach Stella Sampras Webster's Bruins, who also achieved All-Academic Team status in 2018.
Sophomores Abi Altick and Sophie Bendetti and freshmen Taylor Johnson and Katie LaFrance were also honored individually, joining the ranks of ITA Scholar-Athletes for 2019.
Thousands of student-athletes and 940 programs from across men's and women's tennis were recognized. In order to be eligible, players must be a varsity letter winner, have a grade point average (GPA) of 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year and have been enrolled at his or her present school for at least two semesters (including freshman through senior year). Teams, meanwhile, must possess a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or above from its letter winners.
Altick, who also earned the honor as a freshman in 2018, continues to be a standout on and off the court for the Bruins. Altick was previously selected to the Pac-12 All-Academic Second Team for 2019, a season that saw the Monroe, La. native rack up 19 singles wins and 26 doubles triumphs. She garnered her first Pac-12 Player of the Week award for the week of April 15-21 after sewing up the Pac-12 Championships No. 2 seed with a clinching win at crosstown rival USC.
Bendetti of Pacific Palisades, Calif. joins Altick as a two-time ITA Scholar Athlete. Both players recently returned from Naples, Italy, where they represented UCLA and the United States of America at the 2019 Summer Universiade.
Johnson was a doubles standout in her first season as a Bruin, going 17-4. She won her last nine doubles decisions with Altick and the pair closed the season ranked No. 86 in the nation after previously reaching a season high of No. 82. Johnson also spent much of the year on the singles courts, seeing action on Courts 5 and 6 in dual-match play and winning 11 contests overall.
LaFrance debuted at the ITA Regional Championships โ Southwest, defeating Autum Prudhomme of Grand Canyon for her first win on the college level.
Altick, Bendetti, Johnson and LaFrance were also recently named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for Spring 2019, with each posting a GPA of 4.0 while in season. Altick and LaFrance were three-time honorees on the year, while Bendetti and Johnson each earned spots twice.
Players Mentioned
