In a world where college athletes are more known for their athletic ability or legal mishaps than for how they do in the classroom, the ISU women’s tennis team has an eye-popping statistic – all of the returning members of this year’s team are recipients of various academic awards, including the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Academic All-Big 12 First Team, ITA Scholar-Athlete and the Iowa State Scholar-Athlete awards.

“Being a student athlete is no different than being any other student, you still have to manage your time,” said sophomore Chrissy Derouin. “We don’t think we’re doing anything spectacular compared to other students, just that our time is split with sports.”

The tennis team also possesses a streak of excellence that is not limited to the court – under ISU coach Michele Conlon, team has had a 100 percent graduation rate over the last 14 years.

“We have a lot to brag about to recruits,” Conlon said. “But we also brag about the professors here, the graduates and what those graduates are doing now.”

Part of that bragging could be the 3.56 team GPA from this past fall semester. Of the team’s grades from last semester, only four B’s were reported. That includes freshman Kara Hickey, who said balancing academics and athletics in high school has helped her adjust to college.

A number of the tennis players have had the experience of playing tennis for so long that there is no need for special recognition – that is just the way life has been.

“I have been playing tennis since I was four-and-a-half,” said junior Danielle Uscinski. “It was just a given that all this time I had tennis practice after school.”

Many of the tennis players have played for such a long time that managing their time has become as easy as punching a clock at the end of the day.

“I have a friend that works 15 hours a week and he’s just as busy as I am,” Derouin said. “And that makes me wonder, ‘how many hours do I spend at tennis?’ and it totals up, like it’s a job and we have to work weekends.”

Perhaps it is the very approach to tennis as a job that a number of the teammates shared that contributes to their success off the court, as well.

“We definitely spend more time studying than we do playing tennis,” said sophomore Caitlin Loprinzi. “We’re here for an education, and you cannot play tennis for the rest of your life.”

“And you can’t play tennis without good grades,” Uscinski added.

Academics are more than a mere formality for any member of the team, and the members of the tennis team are scouted for their academic ability as well as their athletic ability.

“We do look at their academics before they come here,” Conlon said. “We want to see if they will fit in with what we offer here.”

Two seniors from this season’s team, Charlotte Ljungkrantz and Beth Chermel, are the next to graduate.

“In all the years I have been here I don’t think we’ve had this long a stretch of road matches in a row, but professors have been easy to work with every other year, so this shouldn’t be any different,” Chermel said. “But I love to compete, and it’s been fun, and I hate to think that it will be over soon.”