CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Junior Jessica Shurtz (Plano, Texas/Plano East) garnered Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, as announced by the league office on Monday morning, becoming the first Army women’s tennis player to do so since 2001. Shurtz helped the Black Knights to a program-record 26-8 mark and is one of 19 returners for the 2008-09 campaign.
An aeronautical engineering major, Shurtz boasts the highest grade-point average on the team, managing a 3.75 during the same year that Army collected a fourth-straight Patriot League title.
“Jessica is the quintessential student-athlete and this honor could not be more well-deserved,” said head coach Paul Peck. “She is extremely bright, a hard worker and a great teammate. She’s been bothered by injuries in the last couple of years, but has still managed to contribute. I wish I had 12 players just like her.”
With a roster of 21 available players, Shurtz spent the majority of the season at the top of Army’s “B” lineup. Nonetheless, she managed to pad her career numbers against Patriot League competition to 11-0 in singles and 11-1 in doubles. Shurtz played in the top flight in six dual matches this spring and did not play any lower than No. 4 all year long. She finished the season with an 11-10 singles mark and went 3-11 in doubles.
Shurtz opened the fall season with a 3-1 record, topping back-to-back opponents from Colgate en route to winning the Flight C consolation bracket at the Cornell Fall Invitational (Sept. 7-9). She also played through two rounds at the prestigious National Tennis Center Invitational (Oct. 6) in Flushing, N.Y., widely viewed as one of the top tennis venues in the world.
The Lone Star State native ranks 10th in Army history for single-season wins, posting 23 singles victories in 2005-06. That same year, Shurtz was named the co-MVP at the Patriot League Championship along with classmate Sarah Giles-Madden, helping Army to back-to-back titles as a rookie.
Shurtz’s efforts reach well beyond the tennis courts. She spent the summer of 2007 as a first detail Beast Barracks Platoon Sergeant, placing her responsible for roughly 40 incoming cadets. This past fall, Shurtz served as a squad leader within her company (C3) and also received a gold star for exceptional academic performance.
Shurtz also lent her hand to notable volunteer work throughout the year, beginning with a charity doubles event played at Sportsplex in Newburgh, N.Y., last fall with all proceeds benefiting cancer research. In addition, she joined many of her teammates as a volunteer at the 2007 USTA Arthur Ashe Kids Day in September, a children’s clinic conducted in conjunction with the US Open at the renowned Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Shurtz becomes the fourth women’s tennis player in Army history to win this particular award, joining Sara Snyder (1995), Lillien Lien (2000) and Ali Rohr (2001). In order to be eligible for the scholar-athlete award, a student must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and be a starter or key reserve in his/her sport. Freshmen are not eligible.
Army swept the 2008 tennis scholar-athlete awards, as senior Eddie Kang picked up the honor on the men's side.
