Four Cougars receive WCC All-Academic Honors

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Four BYU women’s tennis student-athletes were recognized for their academic success by the West Coast Conference on Wednesday when the league unveiled its All-Academic Team for the 2020-21 season.

The awards are given to WCC athletes who excelled this year both on the field and in the classroom. To be considered, a student-athlete must be a sophomore, junior or senior; maintain at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average and be a significant contributor to her team.

Seniors Madeline Wanlass and Leah Heimuli were named to the All-Academic team while sophomores Helen Jiao and Emilee Astle were listed as honorable mentions.

Wanlass started her senior year strong by winning her first nine matches despite missing a month due to injury. She went on to finish with a record of 11-4. Of the girls who competed in at least 10 matches this season, Wanlass held the best winning percentage at .733. Majoring in Public Relations, Wanlass closed out her final semester with a GPA of 3.93, picking up her first All-Academic Team honors after being named WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention the last two seasons.

Competing at No. 2 singles, Heimuli finished the season with a team-high 15 wins to go with eight losses and was named All-WCC Singles Honorable Mention. Heimuli started the year with a perfect 5-0 record before stumbling on the road. She answered by winning 10 of her next 12 matches, including a run of eight straight wins which ended up being the second-longest win streak of the year for the Cougars. A year after being named WCC All-Acadmic Honorable Mention, the Sociology major was named to the All-Academic Team. Heimuli will be taking the additional COVID year and return to play one final season in 2021-22.

Jiao partnered with Anastasia Abramyan at No. 1 doubles, and the two combined for eight wins and six losses. The season highlight for Abramyan and Jiao came back in February when they dominated No. 36 Taylor Melville and Hada Chang of the Denver Pioneers, on the road, in their only match against a ranked opponent, 6-2. Abramyan and Jiao were named All-WCC Second Team Doubles.

Astle won 14 singles matches, 14 doubles matches and had a team-high six doubles match victories in conference play. After winning six of her first seven singles matches, Astle picked up third-set victories over Utah, Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga.

The complete list of WCC All-Academic honors can be found on wccsports.com