CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The America East Conference announced its 2009-10 men's and women's tennis All-Academic Teams on Wednesday, with Hartford's Aneil Bhalla earning distinction for his athletic and academic achievements. Bhalla, who topped the Hawks' singles ladder for much of the season, earned the highest grade-point average of the eight men's players recognized by the conference with a 3.97 mark.

Bhalla, a native of Ottawa, Ontario, spent much of his sophomore season in West Hartford playing at the top singles position, as well as playing on the top doubles team, primarily alongside Marco Neves. Bhalla earned four individual victories on the season, including a hotly-contested 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 10-7 triumph against Wagner that helped propel the Hawks to their only team victory of the spring season. Bhalla and Neves grabbed three doubles matches, including two in a row against Wagner and Holy Cross. Bhalla also notched a doubles victory with freshman Josh Isaacson against St. Francis (NY) in October, part of a 4-3 Hartford win.

In the classroom, Bhalla has excelled to the tune of a 3.97 GPA, the highest among men's tennis players in the America East. As a freshman, he was named an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete. Head coach Michael Raymond has already announced that Bhalla will serve as a co-captain for the Hawks next season as a junior.

"Aneil has proven to be an outstanding academic example to his teammates over the past two years," Raymond remarked. "For someone in our program to receive an award like this is truly an honor, and hopefully it will not be the last. We look forward to him returning as a captain next year and providing us with leadership on and off the court."

The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Director meetings, where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference's nine member institutions decided to honor the league's top student-athletes, whom excel equally in the classroom as they do on the playing field. 

For the second straight year, America East will select the All-Academic teams using CoSIDA's Academic All-America program as a model. Student-athletes worthy of consideration are nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by a committee of SIDs, academic advisers and faculty representatives from all nine member institutions.

All-Academic squads for team sports are based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time (example: six players in tennis) or are made up of 10 student-athletes for individual sports. There may be more student-athletes recognized if a tie exists or fewer if eligibility requirements limit the number of nominees. To be nominated for the distinction, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve for their team and participate in at least 50 percent of their team's games or competitions. In the classroom, student-athletes must have a 3.30 GPA and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. Freshmen are not eligible for consideration.

2010 America East Men's Tennis All-Academic Team
Name    Cl.    School    Hometown    GPA    Major
Joseph Adewumi    So.    UMBC    Phoenix, Ariz.    3.72    Biochemistry/Molecular biology
Jon Epstein    Sr.    Stony Brook    Silver Spring, Md.     3.54    Business management and economics
Aneil Bhalla    So.    Hartford    Ottawa, Ontario    3.97    Biology and chemistry
Moshe Levy    Sr.    Binghamton    Ra'ananna, Israel    3.39    Marketing
Ivan Rummel    Sr.    Stony Brook    Budapest, Hungary    3.82    Business management and economics
Ilan Shvartz    Sr.    Stony Brook    Haifa, Israel    3.69    Business management and economics
Sven Vloedgraven    Jr.    Binghamton    Lochem, Netherlands    3.89    Management
Gilbert Wong    So.    Binghamton    Hong Kong    3.74    Accounting

2010 America East Women's Tennis All-Academic Team
Name    Cl.    School    Hometown    GPA    Major
Marina Bykovskaya    So.    Binghamton    Saratov, Russia    3.80    Undecided
Alice Chen    Sr.    UMBC    North Potomac, Md.    4.00    Biochemistry & molecular biology
Gayatri Krishnan    So.    Stony Brook    Chennai, India    3.94    Business management & economics
Anna Pieschl    So.    Stony Brook    Gothenburg, Sweden    3.52    Business management   
Petra Santini    So.    Boston U.    Sibenik, Croatia    3.80    Advertising
Francine Whu    Sr.    Boston U.    Staten Island, N.Y.    3.67    Sociology