Tori, Velez Earn ITA Scholar-Athlete Award
8/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Aug. 11, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Senior Javier Tori and junior Ignacio Velez were named ITA Scholar-Athletes on Monday by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for their exceptional work in the classroom during the 2008-09 school year. The award is the second for Tori, who also earned the award in 2007-08.
In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must 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 2 semesters.
Tori, who led the Spartans (22-3 overall, 9-1 A-Sun) to a school-record 20 straight wins in 2009, set the program record for career combined wins and tied the mark for career singles wins with wins in singles and doubles play on April 4 at Florida Gulf Coast before setting the singles mark the next day at Stetson. With 58 career singles wins, he broke the 12-year old school record by Jorge Ventura from 1994-97. His 122 career combined wins (58 singles wins and 64 doubles wins) passed the two-year-old school record of 119 set by Stefan Dumitrescu (2003-07). For his efforts, Tori, a business administration major, earned Second Team All-A-Sun doubles honors.
Velez earned a letter after going 3-6 overall in singles play and 0-1 in doubles action. He posted a 6-0, 6-0 win over Alabama State's Quintero Moore for his first dual meet win. A business administration major, Velez transferred to Upstate from Cowley College.
