Women's Tennis Transfer Medina Receives Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars Award

Maria Medina, an incoming transfer for the Liberty women's tennis team, was recently recognized with the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award.

Medina, who competed at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (SCF), was the only National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) tennis student-athlete to receive the honor this year, handed out by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine.

Medina was recently recognized with the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award. (Photo credit: SCF Athletics)

The native of Caracas, Venezuela was named to the tennis third team and was one of 60 college tennis players in the nation to receive the award. The Sports Scholars Award is given to undergraduate students of color who exemplify academic and athletic achievement. Students must be at least a sophomore and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.2, as well as demonstrate community activism. This year, over 1,200 student-athletes from around the nation were nominated.

"Maria exemplifies what it means to strive for excellence in all areas of life, so this award couldn't have been given to a more deserving person. Arthur Ashe is considered to be an ideal role model within the tennis community, so this is a great honor for Maria to have her name mentioned in the same breathe as his," stated Liberty Women's Tennis Head Coach Jeff Maren. "We are very excited to have Maria join us this fall! Her character and commitment will help us to reach new heights next season."

Medina won the 2016 Oracle Championship for the junior college division and placed runner-up in the overall Oracle Championship. She was also the NJCAA National Runner Up in No. 1 singles in 2016. In 2017, Medina and her doubles partner were the NJCAA Region 8 champions in the No. 1 doubles draw.

She holds a 10 Universal Tennis player rating (UTR) and was ranked No. 1 in the country in both singles and doubles for most of her two years at State College of Florida.

Medina was ranked as high as No. 862 in singles on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) pro tour before attending State College.