MSU’s Agarwal Earns CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team Honors
June 09, 2016 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Announced Thursday by CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America), Mississippi State men's tennis standout Rishab Agarwal earned Academic All-America First Team honors after his impressive season on the court and in the classroom.
Agarwal becomes the fifth Bulldog to garner CoSIDA First Team honors, joining Kristian Broems (1996), Marco Baron (2001), Jose-Carlos Pinto (2006) and Louis Cant (2012).
The junior was one of eight athletes to earn back-to-back Academic All-America honors, as he was named to the Third Team a year ago. The Hyderabad, India, native was one of only three Men's At-Large Team members to post a perfect 4.0 GPA - the only others being swimmers Anton McKee of Alabama and Nathan Lile of Gardner-Webb. He was also the lone tennis student-athlete on the First Team.
"I am proud that Rishab continues to rack up the honors after another great year in the classroom," head coach Matt Roberts said. "We strive to not only excel on the court, but in the classroom as well. Rishab epitomizes the type of athlete that we recruit to Mississippi State."
Majoring in business information, the junior has turned in a 4.0 GPA throughout his college career at MSU. The latest honor adds to his ever-growing academic profile that already features winning the NCAA's Elite 90 Academic Award and SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year 2016 for men's tennis. Both distinctions were the first in program history, while Agarwal became the first student-athlete ever from MSU to win the prestigious Elite 90 Academic Award. Additionally, the junior is an ITA Scholar Athlete and has won MSU's Newsom Academic Award in consecutive seasons, while garnering a spot on the SEC Community Service Team this year as well.
On the court this season, Agarwal built a 22-13 record in singles play as he earned All-SEC Second Team honors. The junior rose to 54th overall in the ITA Singles Rankings during the year, which led him to earning his first career NCAA Singles Championship selection, where he came just points away from advancing to the Round of 16.
Agarwal finished the 2015-16 season ranked 59th overall by the ITA in singles play, as he was one of only two juniors on the roster that led the No. 19 Bulldogs to the program's 12th NCAA Team Championship Round of 16 appearance. The junior turned in a team-best 9-4 record at the No. 2 spot in singles, while he tied teammate Niclas Braun's 16 dual-match victory mark to finish second on the team in that category. In doubles action, he picked up 10 wins on the year, which was also tied for second-most on the squad.
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