BEREA, OHIO --  The 2011-2012 Baldwin Wallace University men's tennis team and three of its student-athletes have been recognized by the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) for its academic excellence.  The Yellow Jacket men is among the best program in the Ohio Athletic Conference, Central Region and in all of NCAA Division III.

The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA program that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). All eligible student-athletes whose names appear on the NCAA Division III eligibility form and have competed in one or more varsity matches must average into the GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2011 and spring 2012).

In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet the following criteria: be a varsity letter winner, have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and have been enrolled at their present school for at least two semesters (including freshman thorough senior year).

The Yellow Jacket men set a school-record for victories with 29, had a 29-1 overall record, won both the OAC regular season and OAC Tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Division III National Tournament in 2011-2012. The squad also won its first NCAA tourney match and compiled a 3.33 team grade point average. Three of its student-athletes, led by graduated senior CAPITAL ONE Academic All-American Alex Trzeciak (Avon Lake/ 3.71 grade point average in mathematics and economics), were named as ITA Scholar-Athletes. Junior Brad Minrovic (Akron Ellet/ 3.82 GPA in chemistry) and sophomore Kyle Patterson (Wooster Triway/ 4.0 GPA in business administration) joined Trzeciak on the honor squad.

"We are extremely proud that our team men's tennis team both excelled in the classroom and on the tennis court last season," said BW men's Head Coach Brian Rector, a 1989 graduate of the university and a former Academic All-America student-athlete who has an unbelievable, 414-84 career mark with an .831 winning percentage. "We also are very proud of our three men who were named ITA Scholar-Athletes. Alex had a great career and both Brad and Kyle serve as outstanding role models for their teammates."

FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and e-mail at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.