UNO’s Vullings Named Southland Women’s Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year
FRISCO, Texas – New Orleans’ Ank Vullings is the 2020 Southland Conference Women’s Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Monday with its all-academic teams. Student-Athlete of the Year awards are presented by
GEICO.
One of the most successful student-athletes in the shortened spring season, Vullings was a flawless 10-0 at the top position in singles play, including wins over the league’s reigning Player of the Year Samaja Yamalapalli of Sam Houston State and Freshman of the Year Chunxi Xin of Central Arkansas. She owns a 3.73 GPA in accounting.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Northwestern State led the way with three selections each, and the Islanders paced the conference with two first-team picks. UNO placed two on the teams while Abilene Christian, Sam Houston State, UIW and Central Arkansas each garnered one spot.
A three-time all-academic honoree, Northwestern State’s Judit Castillo Gargallo headlines the repeat selections on the teams. Lady Demon teammate Ela Iwaniuk, Yamalapalli, and A&M-Corpus Christi’s Maria Maldonado are being recognized for a second time in their careers.
The average GPA of the honorees is 3.88, and all individuals boast a mark of 3.52 or higher, including five with a perfect 4.00.
The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coach, sports information director and an academic/compliance staff member from each institution. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA and have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to qualify for All-Academic selection.
The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 13 member schools, votes for the student-athlete of the year. The Southland student-athlete of the year award is presented to one student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees must have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
2020 Southland Women's Tennis All-Academic Teams
Student-Athlete of the Year: Ank Vullings, New Orleans
First Team
| Name |
Class |
School |
Hometown |
Major |
GPA |
| Ank Vullings^ |
Jr. |
New Orleans |
Roermond, Netherlands |
Accounting |
3.73 |
| Nini Memishishi |
Jr. |
Abilene Christian |
Tbilisi, Georgia |
Accounting |
4.00 |
| Patrycja Polanska |
Jr. |
Northwestern State |
Zakopane, Poland |
Psychology/Addiction Studies |
4.00 |
| Mariya Shumeika |
So. |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Minsk, Belarus |
Biology |
4.00 |
| Camille Townsend |
So. |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Coconut Creek, Florida |
Biology |
3.91 |
| Sahaja Yamalapalli2 |
Jr. |
Sam Houston State |
Hyderabad, India |
Food Science/Nutrition |
3.79 |
Second Team
| Name |
Class |
School |
Hometown |
Major |
GPA |
| Yurina Asai |
Sr. |
New Orleans |
Nagoya, Japan |
Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism |
4.00 |
| Jelena Dordan |
Sr. |
UIW |
Caplijina, Bosnia & Herzegovenia |
Accounting |
3.91 |
| Judit Castillo Gargallo3 |
Sr. |
Northwestern State |
Teruel, Spain |
Health & Exercise Science |
3.92 |
| Ela Iwaniuk2 |
Sr. |
Northwestern State |
Konarskie, Poland |
Chemistry |
3.52 |
| Maria Maldonado2 |
Sr. |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
El Ejido, Spain |
Finance |
4.00 |
| Fuka Nonoyama |
So. |
Central Arkansas |
Myoshi, Japan |
Undecided |
3.81 |
^Student-Athlete of the Year
2-Two-Time All-Academic Selection
3-Three-Time All-Academic Selection