ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's and women's tennis teams each earned All-Academic Team honors from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) for the 2025-26 academic year and a combined 17 members of the programs received National Scholar-Athlete laurels from the organization.  The ITA made the announcement of the annual academic awards earlier today.

ITA All-Academic Team recognition was given to those programs which totaled a team GPA of at least 3.20 for the full academic calendar, while those individuals who earned ITA National Scholar-Athlete honors posted a grade-point average of at least 3.50 over the entire academic year.

The Navy men's team earned the team honor for the eighth year in a row and the 10th time in the last 11 years and the Navy women's team garnered the accolade for the second year in a row and third time overall.

Navy men's players earning the individual award for a third time were recent graduate Aniketh Ayinala (Charlotte, N.C.) and rising seniors Aaron Gu (West Lafayette, Ind.), Tommy Kim (Santa Clara, Calif.) and Zach Quattro (Austin, Texas).  Fellow rising senior Jason Kim (Suwanee, Ga.) garnered the accolade for the second time, while first-time recipients were rising sophomores Lachlan Buckingham (Houston, Texas), Ethan Garcia (Cary, N.C.) and Daniel Seo (El Cerrito, Calif.), rising junior Zach Giertz and rising senior Jake Young (Hilton Head, S.C.).

Ayinala, Buckingham, Garcia, Giertz, Gu, Kim, Kim, Quattro, Seo and Young were named to the 2026 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll, as recent graduate Herrick Legaspi (Sacramento, Calif.) and rising junior Kai Edwards (Sebastian, Fla.). 

Including his six years as the head coach at Amherst (2008-14) and 11 seasons as the head coach at Navy (2016-present), Chris Garner's teams have earned ITA All-Academic Team recognition 15 times and his players have amassed 125 ITA National Scholar-Athlete awards.

On the women's side, rising seniors Olivia Fermo (Smithtown, N.Y.), Anna Jordaan (Denver, Colo.) and Manci Pal (Riviera Beach, Fla.) and rising juniors Molly Bellia (Granger, Ind.), Emma Gu (West Lafayette, Ind.) and Grace Li (West Chester, Pa.) earned the individual award. Jordaan collected the honor for the third-straight year, while Pal, Bellia, Gu and Li all garnered the accolade for the second time.

Gu was named the 2026 Patriot League Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year this spring, joining Li in being selected to the Academic All-Patriot League Team. Gu and Li joined Fermo, Jordaan, Pal, Bellia and rising sophomore Anna Wiskowski (Hinsdale, Ill.) on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll for the 2026 spring semester.