NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has a school-record five honorees on the list of Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athletes for 2018-19, the ITA announced Thursday.
     XULA's quintet includes repeat selections Yi Chen Pao and Angelica De Vincenzis on the women's team and Samir Chikhaoui and Gabriel Niculescu on the men's. Also on the women's team is Lacee Ancar.
     Criteria for ITA Scholar-Athlete includes being a varsity letterwinner and compiling a 3.50 GPA during the recently completed academic year.
     De Vincenzis earned this honor a year ago while playing for NCAA Division II member Tusculum.
     Both XULA teams were named ITA All-Academic by reaching the minimum 3.20 GPA. It's the first time that either squad has earned that distinction.
     "This is something that makes me very happy," said Alan Green, XULA's director of tennis and head coach of the men's and women's teams. "I challenged both teams to be the best on our tough campus, and they ended up being among the best in the nation. This is awesome. They really have put in the work this year after accepting said challenge."
     Pao (Taichung City, Taiwan), Ancar (Harvey, La./John Curtis Christian) and Chikhaoui (Lille, France) will be seniors at XULA this fall. De Vincenzis (Montebelluna, Italy) will be a junior. Niculescu (Bucharest, Romania) graduated summa cum laude from XULA in May.
     Both XULA teams were stellar on the court again, too. The men were NAIA national runner-up for the third time in four years and reached the semifinals for the fourth consecutive year. The women were an NAIA semifinalist for the second straight year and the fifth time in seven years.