SHSU’s Yamalapalli Earns Second Southland Women’s Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year Award
FRISCO, Texas – Sam Houston’s Sahaja Yamalapalli is the 2021 Southland Conference Women’s Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Wednesday with its all-academic teams. Student-Athlete of the Year awards are presented by
GEICO.
Completing a sweep of the league’s Player and Student-Athlete of the Year awards for the second time in her career, Yamalapalli sports a 3.81 GPA in food science & nutrition and is coming off a 11-0 season in Southland singles play. The President’s and Dean’s list honoree in the fall didn’t drop a single set on the court this spring.
Central Arkansas led the way with three selections, followed by Abilene Christian, Northwestern State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with two each. New Orleans, Sam Houston and Southeastern Louisiana accounted for one spot each.
A four-time all-academic honoree, Northwestern State’s Judit Castillo Gargallo headlines the repeat selections on the teams. Yamalapalli receives her third all-academic nod, and NSU’s Emilija Dancetovic, UNO’s Ank Vullings, ACU’s Nini Memishishi, UCA’s Fuka Nonoyama and AMCC’s Mariya Shumeika picked up their second nod each.
The average GPA of the honorees is 3.82, and nine individuals boast a mark of 3.80 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.
2021 Southland Women's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year: Sahaja Yamalapalli, Sam Houston
2021 Southland Women's Tennis All-Academic First Team
| Name |
Class |
School |
Hometown |
Major |
GPA |
| Sahaja Yamalapalli^*3 |
Sr. |
Sam Houston |
Hyderabad, India |
Food Science/Nutrition |
3.81 |
| Emilija Dancetovic*2 |
Sr. |
Northwestern State |
Belgrade, Serbia |
Business Administration |
3.80 |
| Victoire Delattre* |
Fr. |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Valenciennes, France |
Chemistry |
3.38 |
| Allison Stewart |
Sr. |
Abilene Christian |
Midland, Texas |
Communication Disorders |
4.00 |
| Yada Vasupongchai* |
Sr. |
Central Arkansas |
Samutprakan, Thailand |
Health Education |
3.46 |
| Ank Vullings2 |
Sr. |
New Orleans |
Roermond, Netherlands |
Accounting |
3.75 |
2021 Southland Women's Tennis All-Academic Second Team
| Name |
Class |
School |
Hometown |
Major |
GPA |
| Judit Castillo Gargallo4 |
Sr. |
Northwestern State |
Teruel, Spain |
Sports Management |
4.00 |
| Putri Insani |
Jr. |
Southeastern La. |
Jakarta, Indonesia |
Accounting |
3.84 |
| Jaeun Lee |
So. |
Central Arkansas |
Seoul, South Korea |
Health Education |
4.00 |
| Nini Memishishi2 |
Sr. |
Abilene Christian |
Tbilisi, Georgia |
Accounting |
4.00 |
| Fuka Nonoyama2 |
Jr. |
Central Arkansas |
Myoshi, Japan |
Health Education |
3.80 |
| Mariya Shumeika2 |
Jr. |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Minsk, Belarus |
Kinesiology |
4.00 |
^Student-Athlete of the Year
*-Automatic selection
2-Two-Time All-Academic Selection
3-Three-Time All-Academic Selection
4-Four-Time All-Academic Selection