GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Guilford College Women's Tennis trio of
Ashley Belnap (Winston-Salem, N.C.),
Chandler Sizemore (Sandy Ridge, N.C.), and
LaNiya Ward (Pittsburgh, Pa.), were recognized as Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division-III Women's Scholar Athletes as announced by the organization last week.
The ITA's criteria for the distinction is having a grade point average of at least 3.5 (on a 4.00 scale) for the academic year and being listed on the institutional eligibility form. This year, those qualifiers netted 1,269 Division III women's tennis honorees.
The top Quaker option in both singles and doubles for the third-straight season, Belnap maintains her successful tenure on the women's tennis team after claiming an 11-23 record overall on the court and being a back-to-back Collegiate Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District selection. Individually, the junior went 5-12 this year, but was strong against the always difficult Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) competition, finishing 4-4. When playing with a partner, she went 6-11 with a 2-5 mark in league action. However, Belnap's most significant contribution to the GC women's tennis program this season may not be able to be quantified, as the leader on a team that experienced a breakthrough year going 7-9 overall, good for the team's highest win total since 2013 and cracking the ODAC Tournament field for the first time in nearly a decade. In the classroom, Belnap boasted a 3.73 GPA this academic year while studying Business Administration.
One-of-two Guilford freshman to be recognized, Sizemore was an immediate contributor in the lineup this season playing largely out of the fourth flight of singles and second flight of doubles. Overall, she notched an 11-18 record on the year while seeing strong results in solo play with a 7-9 mark that includes a 3-2 record against conference competition. In doubles, the first-year Quaker went just 4-9 but 2-2 in league play. Seeing success in her first year not only on the court, but in the classroom, Sizemore finished with a 3.93 GPA while double-majoring in Exercise & Sport Sciences and Health Sciences.
Ward also made a swift impact for the women's tennis squad in her first season in Greensboro. Accumulating a 12-12 record on the whole for the Quakers, she contributed with a winning record inside of ODAC play going a combined 5-4. Most of Ward's action this season came in doubles play where she competed out of the third flight in all but one of her 19 matches with a couple of different partners and finishing with an 8-11 record that included a 4-3 conference mark. In her limited time of singles play, however, Ward thrived going 4-1 and 1-1 against ODAC foes. Off the court, Ward is in the Biology program at Guilford and finished with a 3.87 GPA.
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