June 28, 2012

GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Georgia Tech senior Jillian O’Neill has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year and heads up the sport’s 2012 All-ACC Academic Team, as announced today by Commissioner John Swofford.

O’Neill, a native of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, finished her senior season ranked 12th nationally. The All-American and two-time All-ACC selection finished her senior season with a 30-14 mark in singles, including a 17-9 dual conference record and an 8-3 record in conference play. All 17 of her dual wins came on the No. 1 court, and 16 of her total victories came against fellow nationally-ranked opponents. O’Neill also teamed with Alex Anghelescu to achieve the No. 23 spot in the final ITA doubles rankings.

O’Neill is a three-time member of the dean’s list (including the 2012 spring semester) and has earned a spot on the ACC Honor Roll, which will be announced later this summer.

The ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards were established in September 2007 to be awarded annually to the top junior or senior student-athlete in their respective sports. Candidates for the awards must have maintained a minimum 3.0 grade point average for their career as well as a 3.0 for each of the last two semesters. The 2012 All-ACC Academic Women’s Tennis Team features three student athletes who earned All-America honors this season – O’Neill, Miami’s Anna Bartenstein and North Carolina’s Shinann Featheston.

The All-ACC Academic Team also includes 11 student-athletes who were All-ACC selections, seven that were honored at least once as ACC Player of the Week and 10 that have earned All-ACC Academic honors on at least one previous occasion. The latter group includes four-time honoree Martha Blakely of Virginia Tech, who was named her university’s Outstanding Graduating Senior for the College of Science. To be eligible for consideration for the All-ACC Academic Team, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.0 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.0 cumulative average during her academic career.