University of Georgia Athletics
Two Bulldogs Earn ITA Regional Playing Awards
May 18, 2020 | Women's Tennis
Athens, Ga. -- Senior Marta Gonzalez and freshman Lea Ma were named Southeast Regional Award winners announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Monday morning.
Gonzalez was awarded the Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award which honors a Division I women's student-athlete who displays inspiring dedication and commitment to her team, which has enhanced her team's performance and exemplified the spirit of college tennis. In the spring, she was sitting at a 5-3 singles record, clinched the match against No. 11 Virginia at the ITA National Indoor Tournament and held a singles ranking of No. 84. In the fall, she was a Big XII versus SEC Challenge Champion and Pepperdine Collegiate Invitational Semi-Finalist. In her time at Georgia she was an ITA All-American in singles in 2019 and Second Team All-SEC in 2018.
Off the court, Gonzalez was a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, and has been named to the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Honor Roll four times in her career.
Ma was named Southeast Regional Rookie of the Year which honors a first-year student-athlete who made significant contributions to her team in the areas of leadership, sportsmanship and performance. In her first year at Georgia, Ma was named SEC Freshman of the Week the week of January 29 after picking up back to back wins in the ITA Kick-Off, reached a career high ranking of No. 18, competed primarily in the No. 2 spot all season. In the fall she finished with a No. 19 ranking and earned a spot in the Oracle ITA Fall Nationals in her first real taste of collegiate tennis. This is the fourth straight ITA Southeast Regional Rookie of the Year under Head Coach Jeff Wallace beginning with Elena Christofi in 2017, Katarina Jokic in 2018, Meg Kowalski in 2019 and Ma in 2020.
Along with the two individual awards, the team was named honorable mention for the ITA Community Service Award. Since August 2019, the Bulldogs have helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity, participated in Spooky Dawgs, handed out goodie bags to Barrow Elementary students before a field trip, help prepare Easter baskets for kids with special needs and hosted the annual First Serve event.
"Our girls are very committed to helping those within our community," Head Coach Jeff Wallace said. "The amount of work they put into their community parallels the amount of work they put into practice and competitions. They are an inspiration for the young kids that they work with, especially during our First Serve event that not only give a preview of the teams before the season, but allows the team to work with kids from all around the community who want to learn tennis or just meet their favorite players. Getting to build houses in Jasper was such a great experience too. To step out their comfort zone a bit and do something amazing like is really inspiring. They do a lot of good for the Athens community and I expect that to continue for seasons to come."
Gonzalez was awarded the Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award which honors a Division I women's student-athlete who displays inspiring dedication and commitment to her team, which has enhanced her team's performance and exemplified the spirit of college tennis. In the spring, she was sitting at a 5-3 singles record, clinched the match against No. 11 Virginia at the ITA National Indoor Tournament and held a singles ranking of No. 84. In the fall, she was a Big XII versus SEC Challenge Champion and Pepperdine Collegiate Invitational Semi-Finalist. In her time at Georgia she was an ITA All-American in singles in 2019 and Second Team All-SEC in 2018.
Off the court, Gonzalez was a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, and has been named to the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Honor Roll four times in her career.
Ma was named Southeast Regional Rookie of the Year which honors a first-year student-athlete who made significant contributions to her team in the areas of leadership, sportsmanship and performance. In her first year at Georgia, Ma was named SEC Freshman of the Week the week of January 29 after picking up back to back wins in the ITA Kick-Off, reached a career high ranking of No. 18, competed primarily in the No. 2 spot all season. In the fall she finished with a No. 19 ranking and earned a spot in the Oracle ITA Fall Nationals in her first real taste of collegiate tennis. This is the fourth straight ITA Southeast Regional Rookie of the Year under Head Coach Jeff Wallace beginning with Elena Christofi in 2017, Katarina Jokic in 2018, Meg Kowalski in 2019 and Ma in 2020.
Along with the two individual awards, the team was named honorable mention for the ITA Community Service Award. Since August 2019, the Bulldogs have helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity, participated in Spooky Dawgs, handed out goodie bags to Barrow Elementary students before a field trip, help prepare Easter baskets for kids with special needs and hosted the annual First Serve event.
"Our girls are very committed to helping those within our community," Head Coach Jeff Wallace said. "The amount of work they put into their community parallels the amount of work they put into practice and competitions. They are an inspiration for the young kids that they work with, especially during our First Serve event that not only give a preview of the teams before the season, but allows the team to work with kids from all around the community who want to learn tennis or just meet their favorite players. Getting to build houses in Jasper was such a great experience too. To step out their comfort zone a bit and do something amazing like is really inspiring. They do a lot of good for the Athens community and I expect that to continue for seasons to come."
Players Mentioned
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