Women’s Tennis Named ITA All-Academic Team, Six Honored as Scholar-Athletes
July 14, 2026 | Women's Tennis
News
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Six Fighting Illini women's tennis student-athletes and the team as a whole were honored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) for their work in the classroom during the 2025-26 academic year, the organization announced on Monday.
Illinois owned a combined team GPA of 3.60 across the school year, exceeding the 3.2 GPA necessary to qualify for the ITA All-Academic Team award.
Six Fighting Illini student-athletes surpassed the 3.5 GPA required to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete honors for the 2025-26 campaign. Those individuals were Tess Bucher, Kimiko Cooper, Ariel Madatali, McKenna Schaefbauer, Rosie Seccia, and Alice Xu.
In 2026, 1,501 Division I women's student-athletes were named an ITA Scholar-Athlete, and 231 women's tennis programs were awarded the All-Academic Team distinction.
The honor marked the fourth of Schaefbauer's career while Seccia and Xu each earned their third honors and Madatali collected her second ITA Scholar-Athlete nod. Bucher and Cooper's recognition marked the first of their careers.
Additional academic honors collected by the Illini squad this past season included Schaefbauer and Seccia tabbed Big Ten Distinguished Scholars along with Madatali, Schaefbauer, Seccia, and Xu earning Big Ten Spring Academic All-Big Ten. In mid-May, Schaefbauer, Xu, and Madatali were named to the CSC Academic All-District Team. Schaefbauer also was named Illinois' Big Ten Medal of Honor winner following her senior campaign.
