Iowa State may have finished the regular season 10th in Big 12 play on the court, but the Cyclones finished in a tie for first in players making the Big 12 All-Academic team. Along with Baylor and Oklahoma, Iowa State landed five players on the first and second teams. The annoucement was made Tuesday.

“It’s exciting to see that we aren’t just improving on the tennis court,” coach Armando Espinosa said. “They are all really living up to what it takes to be a student-athlete.”

Junior Erin Karonis and sophomores Marie-Christine Chartier, Tessa Lang and Maria Macedo were all named to the first team while junior Liza Wischer made the second team.

Karonis, a journalism and mass communication major, earned first-team honors for the second consecutive year, earning a 3.21 cumulative GPA. Lang carries the highest cumulative GPA on the team with a 3.85 in kinesiology and health. Macedo, a marketing major, and Chartier, a kinesiology and health major, received their first honors with 3.64 and 3.59 cumulative GPAs. Wischer, a communication studies major, leads the team in singles with a 11-8 record and earned her first academic All-Big 12 honors with a 3.03 GPA.

Players are nominated by each institution’s director of student-athlete support services and the media relations offices, according to a news release from the Big 12. First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, and the second team are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.

To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of his/her team’s scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.

The Cyclones (9-14, 2-9 Big 12) will begin Big 12 tournament play at 1:30 p.m. Thursday when they take on Oklahoma State (12-9, 5-6) in Austin, Texas.