AUSTIN, Texas – North Carolina Central University men’s tennis senior Tamina Kienka has been named to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Men’s At-Large Third Team, selected and announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Thursday.
“Earning the distinction of Academic All-America is quite an honor and symbolic of Tamina’s scholarly talent,” said NCCU director of tennis and head men’s tennis coach D. Curtis Lawson.
Kienka is the first NCCU men’s tennis player to ever earn Academic All-America acclaim.
The two-time Capital One Academic All-District (2014 and 2015) honoree earned All-America status by CoSIDA for his outstanding performance both on the court and in the classroom.
Kienka posted matching .500 records (7-7) in both singles and doubles play for the Eagles in 2015. Kienka, who played in 53 total matches in his four years at NCCU, capped his collegiate career with a surge going 7-2 in his last nine trips onto the court.
The Lagos, Nigeria, product entered his spring semester with a 4.0 grade point average (GPA). Kienka, who is a biology (pre-med) and pharmaceutical science major, received the Department of Biology Award for highest academic performance by a senior. He is part of NCCU’s Honors Program, a Chancellor’s Scholar, Thurgood Marshall Leadership Institute Scholar, Gold Key International Honor Society member, undergraduate research fellow at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, president of the NCCU Student Honor Council and SAAC Vice President.
“TK, as we affectionately call him, came to us as a spry 16 year old with an academic profile that qualified him for admission into some of the top academic institutions in the country,” said Lawson. “I am extremely proud of TK and this recognition falls in line with the brand of student-athletes we strive to recruit, mentor and send out into the world to do great things. Products of the program such as 2012 team captain Alejandro Espitia, who just graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and landed a job at one of the top Law Firms in New York City, or 2010 team captain Stephen Allsop, who will finish Medical School at Harvard while also completing his Ph.D. at MIT. We have countless other success stories and TK’s portfolio is just starting to mature.”
Kienka becomes the second NCCU student-athlete to Academic All-America status since the institution transitioned to Division I athletics and fifth Eagle all-time.
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.