Gonzalo Escobar and Raony Carvalho are to be honored on Saturday by the ITA and USTA.

August 24, 2012

SKILLMAN, N.J. – Texas Tech’s Raony Carvalho and Gonzalo Escobar are among 34 student-athletes the Intercollegiate Tennis Association will recognize on Saturday at the 2012 Arthur Ashe Jr. National Leadership and Sportsmanship Awards along with the 2012 ITA Collegiate All-Star Team on Saturday at the ITA Awards Luncheon hosted by the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The 34 student-athletes have been invited to the presentation taking place in the President's Suite Dining Room as part of Arthur Ashe Kids' Day activities at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. Jon Vegosen, Chairman of the Board and President of the USTA, David A Benjamin, ITA Executive Director, and David Dinkins, former Mayor of New York City and a member of the USTA Board of Directors, will be among those on hand to present the awards.  

The ITA/Arthur Ashe Jr. Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship Award takes into account a player's tennis accomplishments, scholastic achievements and extracurricular endeavors. Just as Arthur Ashe was a great player and humanitarian, this award (which dates to 1984) recognizes players who excelled on and off the court during their college careers. Sportsmanship, leadership and character are also important criteria.

The 29th ITA Collegiate All-Star Team includes the nation's top-ranked men's and women's players from the year-end Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and NJCAA levels, as well as winners of the 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships and 2012 NCAA Division I Championships.

Carvalho and Escobar finished 2012 rated third in the Campbell/ITA NCAA Division I Doubles Rankings, finishing with a 14-2 record. Carvalho, a native of Brazilia, Brazil and Escobar, who is from Manta, Ecuador, reached the NCAA Doubles Finals to earn ITA All-America honors and finished as the top two winningest players in school history.

ARTHUR ASHE LEADERSHIP AND SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD WINNERS

NCAA Division I – Men
Ryan Thacher - Stanford University

NCAA Division I - Women
Caroline Newman - College of Charleston

NCAA Division II - Men
Tyler McCullough - West Liberty University

NCAA Division II - Women
Kara Murphy - Bentley University

NCAA Division III - Men
Will Petrie - Williams College

NCAA Division III - Women
Cze-Ja Tam - Carnegie Mellon University

NAIA - Men
David Spennare - Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

NAIA - Women
Jordan Kimura - Concordia University-Irvine

Junior/Community College - Men
Simon Bardell - Meridian Community College

Junior/Community College - Women
Gienna Gonnella - Santa Rosa Junior College

ITA COLLEGIATE ALL-STAR TEAM MEMBERS

NCAA Division I Singles - Women
Nicole Gibbs - Stanford University
Marta Lesniak - Southern Methodist University
Beatrice Capra - Duke University

NCAA Division I Doubles - Women
Nicole Gibbs/Mallory Burdette - Stanford University
Kaitlyn Christian/Sabrina Santamaria - University of Southern California
Sofie Oyen/Allie Will - University of Florida

NCAA Division II - Women
Annie Hwang - Brigham Young University-Hawaii

NCAA Division III - Women
Gabrielle Clark - Emory University

NAIA - Women
Ana Veselinovic- University of Auburn-Montgomery

NJCAA - Women
Kerrie Cartwright -Tyler Junior College

NCAA Division I Singles - Men
Steve Johnson - University of Southern California
Mitchell Frank - University of Virginia
Eric Quigley - University of Kentucky

NCAA Division I Doubles - Men
Chase Buchanan/Blaz Rola - Ohio State
Steve Johnson/Roberto Quiroz - University of Southern California
Raony Carvalho / Gonzalo Escobar - Texas Tech University

NCAA Division II - Men
Georgi Rumenov - Armstrong Atlantic State University

NCAA Division III - Men
Dillon Pottish - Emory University

NAIA - Men
Bruno Tiberti - Oklahoma Christian University

NJCAA - Men
Memford Owusu - Georgia Perimeter College

The ITA

As the governing body of collegiate tennis, the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which is comprised of nearly 1,700 men's and women's varsity coaches representing over 1,200 institutions, administers numerous regional and national championships and the Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings for over 20,000 college varsity student-athletes at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior College levels. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship. The official ITA web site is www.itatennis.com.