Bradley Lands Three on MVC Women’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete Teams

Josh Schwam, Athletics Communications Student Assistant Women's Tennis 5/4/2021 10:02:00 AM

ST. LOUIS – For the seventh time in program history, and the fifth time under head coach Matt Tyler, the Bradley Women's Tennis program has landed three student-athletes on the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete Team, according to a vote of the league's six women's tennis sports information directors announced by the conference office Tuesday morning.

Senior Natalia Barbery (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) is a repeat selection for the MVC Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete first team. The 2020 MVC Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year becomes the sixth student-athlete in program history to earn first-team recognition more than once in her career. An honorable mention selection in both 2018 and 2019, Barbery also becomes the first student-athlete in program history to qualify from the MVC Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete Team four times, a consequence of the extra year of eligibility in 2020-21 granted to spring sports student-athletes due to the ongoing global pandemic.

Sophomores Bozana Lojpur (Burnaby, BC/Burnaby Mountain Secondary School) and Nikki Perlwitz (Weston, FL/Cypress Bay HS) both earned MVC Scholar-Athlete honorable mention. Lojpur received honorable mention recognition for the second consecutive year.

Boasting a 3.70 cumulative grade point average, while majoring in industrial engineering with an emphasis in engineering management, Barbery graduates as one of the winningest players in Bradley Women's Tennis history. An All-MVC selection at No. 4 Singles and No. 1 Doubles in 2019, Barbery ranks eighth in Bradley history with 104 combined singles and doubles victories and she paired with Sandra Maletin to form the winningest doubles tandem in program history.

While building a 3.32 cumulative GPA as a chemistry (business) major, Lojpur has established herself at the top of the Bradley playing order and earned MVC All-Select recognition as the No. 2 Singles player for the Braves. The 2019 MVC Freshman of the Year already has climbed to 14th on the program's combined career wins (89) list by posting the third-best combined singles and doubles winning percentage (.640) in program history.

Sporting a 3.35 cumulative GPA as an international studies major, Perlwitz also earned All-MVC recognition this spring at No. 6 Singles. Like her classmate Lojpur, Perlwitz also is rapidly climbing the Bradley career combined wins list, ranking 20th in program history with 77 career victories and ninth with her .588 career winning percentage.

The criterion for the MVC Scholar-Athlete honor parallels the College Sports Information Directors of America (COSIDA) standards for the Academic All-America program. Nominees must have participated in at least 75 percent of the regular-season matches or be projected to play in the MVC Championship with at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA (on a 4.00 scale). Student-athletes must have reached sophomore status in both athletic and academic standing at their institution (true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and first-year transfers were not eligible).

Bradley Tennis recently concluded a historic season last month, its third straight winning season, marking the first such streak since 1991-93. The trio also aided the Braves to a second consecutive winning season in league play for the first time ever in the Missouri Valley Conference, having only previously accomplished the two-year feat as a member of the Gateway Conference in 1992 and the MVC in 1993.

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