MSU Tennis? Agarwal, Tran Named Capital One Academic All-America
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Announced Thursday by CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America), Mississippi State men’s tennis star Rishab Agarwal and women’s tennis standout Naomi Tran have been selected to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-America Division I At-Large Teams with their impressive seasons on the court and in the classroom.
Both Agarwal and Tran earned Third Team national honors on the Capital One at-large team.
Agarwal, an All-SEC Second Team honoree, is the first men’s tennis player to earn Capital One Academic All-American status since Louis Cant (First Team) and Artem Ilyushin (Second Team) earned the honor in 2012. On the court, Agarwal put together a stellar 25-6 record, with a 19-3 showing in the spring. The sophomore from Hyderabad, India, capped his season winning his last 12 decisions and going a perfect 8-0 in SEC play, one of only three players in the league to do so. Agarwal is the first Bulldog to finish the year perfect in league play since Sylvain Guichard went 10-0 in 1993.
Academically, Agarwal boasts a perfect 4.00 grade point average in business administration and is a three-time Mississippi State University Presidential Scholar honoree. He was announced as men’s tennis’ 2015 Newsom Award winner, given to the best scholar-athlete in each sport at MSU.
Tran becomes the first Bulldog in women’s tennis program history to earn Capital One Academic All-American status. Tran put together a 14-6 overall record in singles in 2014-15, winning 10 of her last 13 contests, while compiling 13 wins in doubles in her final year in the Maroon and White. Her success in doubles landed her as high as 53rd in the ITA National Doubles Rankings.
For her career, Tran put together 52 doubles wins overall, which stands seventh all-time in MSU history, while also placing in the top 10 on the MSU career doubles winning percentage list.
As the Bulldogs’ senior leader, Tran helped lead MSU to its first NCAA Championship appearance since 2005 and its first win in the NCAAs since 2001, when State downed Houston in Berkeley, Calif. Tran’s performance this season also helped the Bulldogs earn their most wins in a single season (16) since 1986, tying for the third-most in school history.
A double major in accounting and finance, Tran holds an impressive 4.00 grade point average. Women’s tennis’ 2015 Newsom Award winner, given to the best student-athlete in each sport at MSU, Tran has also been a two-time Academic All-SEC honoree and ITA Scholar-Athlete.
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