Academics | Five ETBU teams earn National Academic Awards
Published 4:21 pm Tuesday, July 29, 2025
MARSHALL, Texas – Five East Texas Baptist University athletic programs have earned team academic awards from their organizations, announced last week. All five programs played in a post-season national tournament with four winning American Southwest Conference Championships.
Baseball, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, volleyball, and beach volleyball earned team academic awards. Below is their team grade point average, followed by a description of their organization’s award.
Team GPAs
Beach Volleyball: 3.76
Women’s Tennis: 3.70
Volleyball: 3.69
Men’s Tennis: 3.62
Baseball: 3.58
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Baseball
ETBU earned the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence award for the 10th year in a row under head coach Jared Hood. The team finished with a cumulative grade point average of 3.58, topping their 3.39 average from the 2023-24 season. In the American Southwest Conference, 35 student-athletes made the All-Academic team with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
ETBU won the ASC Tournament Championship and hosted the NCAA Marshall, Texas Regional Tournament playing for the championship.
To be honored, teams had to meet the following criteria and is sponsored by Sports Attack:
Must be a high school or college team
Head coach must be a current ABCA member
Team must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.0 scale for the 2024-25 academic year
Men’s Tennis
For the third year, the ETBU men’s tennis team earned the ITA All-Academic Team Award and placed nine student-athletes on the ITA Scholar-Athlete team. The team finished with a 3.62 GPA for the year and carried a 3.63 GPA during the spring season when they won the ASC Tournament Championship for the first time.
To be named an ITA Scholar-Athlete, one must meet the following requirements: have a grade point average of at least 3.5 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year and be listed on the institutional eligibility form. To be named an ITA All-Academic Team, programs must meet the following requirements: have a team grade point average of 3.2 or above (on a 4.00 scale), all student-athletes included should be listed on the institutional eligibility form, and all varsity letter winners should be factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year.
Making the ITA Scholar-Athlete Team were:
Sam Black, ETBU
David Garcia, ETBU
Kayden Lengacher, ETBU
Jaco Snyman, ETBU
Slade Austin, ETBU
Frederick Friberg, ETBU
Max Karseno, ETBU
Drew Van Wyk, ETBU
BT White, ETBU
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Women’s Tennis
The ETBU women’s tennis program earned the All-Academic Team for the 2024-25 season, making it the program’s 10th consecutive year of ITA academic awards. Six student-athletes also earned the ITA Scholar-Athlete award. The team had the second-highest GPA for ETBU athletics at 3.70 and posted a 3.78 GPA in the spring semester, winning the 2025 ASC Tournament Championship and an NCAA Tournament first-round match.
To be named an ITA Scholar-Athlete, one must meet the following requirements: have a grade point average of at least 3.5 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year and be listed on the institutional eligibility form. To be named an ITA All-Academic Team, programs must meet the following requirements: have a team grade point average of 3.2 or above (on a 4.00 scale), all student-athletes included should be listed on the institutional eligibility form, and all varsity letter winners should be factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year.
Making the ITA Scholar-Athlete Team were:
Kristyn Dunn, ETBU
Bailey Smith, ETBU
Isabella Macquet, ETBU
Monique Ybarra, ETBU
Isabelle Duarte, ETBU
Kaitlyn Huzy, ETBU
Volleyball
It is the sixth year for the ETBU volleyball program to earn the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award, and it is the third year under head coach Mallory Matthews for the award. The team finished the year with a 3.69 overall GPA and a 3.83 GPA in the spring. ETBU was also named to the Team Academic Honor Roll program for being in the top 20% of the team GPAs for NCAA Division III. ETBU won their second straight ASC Tournament Championship, finished nationally ranked, and won a first-round NCAA match.
To earn the 2025 AVCA Team Academic Award, a program had to maintain a year-long grade-point average of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale (or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale).
Beach Volleyball
In its third year as a program, ETBU continued its academic success, earning the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award under head coach Allison Kuster. They led ETBU Athletics with a 3.76 GPA and in the spring and posted a 3.84 GPA. The team also played in their third AVCA Small College National Tournament this year.
To earn the 2025 AVCA Team Academic Award, a program had to maintain a year-long grade-point average of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale (or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale).