RUSTON ÃÆ'¢Ã¢'¬" News has been widespread on the Louisiana Tech tennis team's success on the courts, recently becoming nationally ranked for the first time in program history.

The squad has been excelling in the classroom as well with a current team GPA of 3.14. Five of the nine Lady Techsters have a cumulative GPA of 3.40 or better.

"I am very proud of how the team has been able to work so hard on and off the court," head coach Chad Camper said. "Their achievements in academics are proof that hard work really does pay off."

Certain players have also recently garnered attention for their academic success. After being recognized as Outstanding Junior of the Year by the College of Engineering and Science last year, Manoela Chiacchio has been nominated for Outstanding Senior of the Year.

The industrial engineering major was nominated again by a professor from her department of engineering.

Meanwhile, senior Taly Merker, a finance major, was one of four students selected to go to Dallas to attend the Economics Scholars Program Conference. The senior will take part in a poster session which is a visual poster presentation that provides an opportunity to have informal discussion between presenters and participants.

Merker and Chiacchio, along with teammates Haley Ballinger, Marta Sramkova and Alexandra Starkova, have also received recognition to the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll at least once in the past two academic years.

LA Tech returns to the courts on Tuesday, April 5 at 2 p.m. to face New Orleans. It is the first of four straight home matches for the Techsters.

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