The staple stories of the summer downtime for us have been the Armada, USA Volleyball, and documenting the ever-expanding list of academic awards being heaped onto the Long Beach State women’s tennis team.  Here’s another in that latter category, this time from the ITA, tennis’ governing body.

The 49ers were honored with multiple academic awards, as announced by the ITA. The ITA gives awards to both teams and individuals, and the 49ers received honors for both.

“I am proud of our student-athletes and their commitment both on and off the court here at Long Beach State,” said head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello. “It says a lot about their character to win championships and academic awards year after year.”

Long Beach State earned its sixth team award and fifth in a row in 2009, joining three other Big West programs in that distinction. To earn ITA Academic Team awards, a team must have a combined GPA of 3.20 over the course of the prior academic year.

The team award was a reflection of the outstanding individual effort from the 2008-09 tennis team, as six players from the team all received individual All-Academic Honors from the ITA. The award recognizes individuals who finished the year with a GPA over 3.50.

Seniors Hannah Grady and Jessica Weeks were joined by Julie Luzar, Anais Dallara and Deborah Armstrong as well as fall competitor Stephanie Jeanes. Long Beach State was responsible for nearly a third of the individuals honored by the ITA in the Big West, accounting for 6 of the 20 athletes from the conference who received the award.

From LBSU reports