Rentouli Awarded Prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
July 23, 2020 | Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State women's tennis alum Anastasia Rentouli, who competed for the Bulldogs from 2016-19 and graduated with honors this past May, has been granted a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, the association has announced.
Rentouli is one of 42 recipients of the scholarship - and 21 from women's sports among all three NCAA divisions - who earned the honor for spring 2019-20. The one-time, non-renewable scholarships of $10,000 each are awarded each fall, winter and spring to 21 men and 21 women for a total of 126 scholarships each academic year. A complete listing of the spring 2019-20 women's recipients of the scholarship, including Rentouli, can be viewed here.
The scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage graduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports. Athletics and academic achievements, campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership are evaluated.
"I feel so honored to represent Mississippi State University and receive the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship," Rentouli said. "There has been a lot of uncertainty during the past couple of months for everyone, so this award showed me once more how MSU truly is a family because I did receive guidance from current and former staff to earn this award. This award means more to me than just the scholarship; it represents the holistic development I have had throughout the past five years as a Bulldog, and I will forever be grateful for that."
Rentouli graduated from MSU with summa cum laude honors with a double major in finance and marketing, and minor in public relations, this past May. She plans to use the NCAA scholarship to pursue a masters degree in sport management in efforts to earn a position to positively impact the sporting world and those involved in it. She will pursue that graduate degree at the University of Stirling in Scotland in 2020-21, where she will be a part of the women's tennis team.
The Athens, Greece, native played a major role in producing one of the most successful stretches of Mississippi State women's tennis history while being named All-SEC Second Team in both 2018 and 2019 as a junior and senior, respectively. She stands top 5 all-time at State in six career categories, including No. 1 in singles winning percentage.
Rentouli clinched the Bulldogs' 2018 victory against No. 2-ranked and eventual SEC Champion Vanderbilt, the highest ranked win in both MSU men's and women's tennis history.
Off the court, Rentouli was equally impressive. After earning SEC Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors in the spring of 2019, Rentouli also notched CoSIDA Academic All-District honors for the second year in a row. She was a four-time ITA Scholar Athlete and SEC Academic Honor Roll honoree.
A three-time SEC Community Service Team selection, she received a 2019 Spirit of State award which formally honors MSU students who excel in campus involvement, service to the university, and make an impact on their peers and the broader campus community.
For three years, Rentouli was a member of M-Club, State's student-athlete community service-based organization - serving as its president during her senior campaign. She also served as MSU's Student-Athlete Advisory Council's (SAAC) Campus Involvement Chair.
In 2018, Rentouli was honored with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Southern Region Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award and also garnered the ITA's Southern Region Cissy Leary Sportsmanship Award in both 2018 and 2019.
In May 2019, she was named one of just two national recipients of the 2019 Wilson/ITA Promoter of the Year award. In conjunction with that, she served an internship at Wilson Sports' global headquarters last summer in Chicago, ending the stint by supporting Wilson's efforts in its official store in the shadows of the legendary Arthur Ashe & Louis Armstrong Stadiums at the 2019 US Open Championships in New York.
For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis team, visit HailState.com and follow "HailStateWT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Rentouli is one of 42 recipients of the scholarship - and 21 from women's sports among all three NCAA divisions - who earned the honor for spring 2019-20. The one-time, non-renewable scholarships of $10,000 each are awarded each fall, winter and spring to 21 men and 21 women for a total of 126 scholarships each academic year. A complete listing of the spring 2019-20 women's recipients of the scholarship, including Rentouli, can be viewed here.
The scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage graduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports. Athletics and academic achievements, campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership are evaluated.
"I feel so honored to represent Mississippi State University and receive the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship," Rentouli said. "There has been a lot of uncertainty during the past couple of months for everyone, so this award showed me once more how MSU truly is a family because I did receive guidance from current and former staff to earn this award. This award means more to me than just the scholarship; it represents the holistic development I have had throughout the past five years as a Bulldog, and I will forever be grateful for that."
Rentouli graduated from MSU with summa cum laude honors with a double major in finance and marketing, and minor in public relations, this past May. She plans to use the NCAA scholarship to pursue a masters degree in sport management in efforts to earn a position to positively impact the sporting world and those involved in it. She will pursue that graduate degree at the University of Stirling in Scotland in 2020-21, where she will be a part of the women's tennis team.
The Athens, Greece, native played a major role in producing one of the most successful stretches of Mississippi State women's tennis history while being named All-SEC Second Team in both 2018 and 2019 as a junior and senior, respectively. She stands top 5 all-time at State in six career categories, including No. 1 in singles winning percentage.
Rentouli clinched the Bulldogs' 2018 victory against No. 2-ranked and eventual SEC Champion Vanderbilt, the highest ranked win in both MSU men's and women's tennis history.
Off the court, Rentouli was equally impressive. After earning SEC Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors in the spring of 2019, Rentouli also notched CoSIDA Academic All-District honors for the second year in a row. She was a four-time ITA Scholar Athlete and SEC Academic Honor Roll honoree.
A three-time SEC Community Service Team selection, she received a 2019 Spirit of State award which formally honors MSU students who excel in campus involvement, service to the university, and make an impact on their peers and the broader campus community.
For three years, Rentouli was a member of M-Club, State's student-athlete community service-based organization - serving as its president during her senior campaign. She also served as MSU's Student-Athlete Advisory Council's (SAAC) Campus Involvement Chair.
In 2018, Rentouli was honored with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Southern Region Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award and also garnered the ITA's Southern Region Cissy Leary Sportsmanship Award in both 2018 and 2019.
In May 2019, she was named one of just two national recipients of the 2019 Wilson/ITA Promoter of the Year award. In conjunction with that, she served an internship at Wilson Sports' global headquarters last summer in Chicago, ending the stint by supporting Wilson's efforts in its official store in the shadows of the legendary Arthur Ashe & Louis Armstrong Stadiums at the 2019 US Open Championships in New York.
For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis team, visit HailState.com and follow "HailStateWT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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