Andersson, Vallverdu Receive Arthur Ashe Jr. Award
July 12, 2010
Coral Gables, Fla. – University of Miami student-athletes Maria Andersson and Laura Vallverdu were recently honored as Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award winners celebrating academic and athletic achievement.
Andersson, completing her final season with the Hurricanes volleyball program last fall, is earning her first Arthur Ashe Jr. award, and was named to the 2010 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Team in February. The Ängelholm, Sweden native is working towards a degree in International Finance and Marketing. In 2009, she led the Hurricanes with 33 service aces (0.28 per set), while finishing third on the team with 218 digs. Andersson claimed 66 kills during her senior year, playing primarily in the back row, picking up 37 assists and 26 blocks (24 assisted) along the way.
In three years with the Hurricanes program, Andersson turned in 84 service aces, the sixth-most in UM history, while ending her career ranked eighth all-time in service aces per set (0.27).
For Vallverdu, the all-time singles wins leader in UM women’s tennis history (131); the academic award is another in a long list for the Valencia, Venezuela native who recently completed her degree in Psychology from UM.
Vallverdu was named last week to the All-ACC Academic Team for women’s tennis for the fourth-straight year, and was honored in May with the Honda Sports Award as the nation’s top collegiate female athlete in women’s tennis. She closed out her UM career as a four-time All-ACC selection, as well as a four-time ITA All-American in singles, and a 2010 All-American in doubles competition. Vallverdu reached the semifinals of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championships this spring to conclude her college career and ended the 2009-2010 season leading her team with 35 singles wins for a 35 -13 mark overall. She completed the doubles season at 19-6 with a #1 ranking and finished 21-12 against nationally ranked opponents. Vallverdu is the first player in University of Miami history to win at least 30 times in each of her four years.
Additionally, Vallverdu concluded her storied career as the third four-time women’s tennis All-American in school history, and a four-time All-ACC pick, becoming the first in program history. In 2010, she was a Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic performer, and a Second Team Academic All-District III Team.
In addition to the spring sport honorees, the NCAA awards 118 postgraduate scholarships to student-athletes participating in fall and winter sports in which the NCAA conducts championships or participates in as an emerging sport, for a total of 174 postgraduate scholarships annually.
To qualify for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, a student-athlete must have an overall grade-point average of 3.2 (on a 4.0 scale) or its equivalent, and must have performed with distinction as a member of the varsity team in the sport in which the student-athlete was nominated. The student-athlete must have behaved, both on and off the field, in a manner that has brought credit to the student-athlete, the institution and intercollegiate athletics. The student-athlete also must intend to continue academic work beyond the baccalaureate degree as a full-time or part-time graduate student.
Nominations are made by each school’s faculty athletics representatives and selections are made three times each academic year. Candidates are screened by seven regional selection committees and the award recipients are selected by the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee.
