Spartanburg, S.C. -- The Southern Conference today named Furman women’s tennis player Laura Gioia as the TIAA-CREF Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week for the week of March 28.

Gioia, a sophomore from Tampa, Fla., earned Women’s Tennis Player of the Week honors after going 3-0 at No. 1 singles action last week and 2-1 with teammate Natasa Manojlovic at No. 1 doubles. She started the week with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Wofford’s Merry Ellen Henry in the Lady Paladins 7-0 win over the Terriers on March 21.  Gioia also defeated Ana Spivakovsky from Charlotte 6-3, 6-4 on March 22 in a 5-2 win. Her biggest win of the week was in Furman’s 6-1 win over Chattanooga when she topped 46th-ranked Anastasia Zhukova 3-6, 6-2, 10-8. Gioia is 14-2 at No. 1 singles and is 11-5 at No. 1 doubles.

Off the court, Gioia boasts a 3.75 GPA and is a pre-med major.  This is her second TIAA-CREF Student-Athlete of the Week honor this season. 

Other top performers include: Chattanooga’s Jeannie Cochran (softball), Davidson’s Brenna Burns (track and field), Elon’s Paige Goss (softball), Georgia Southern’s Lindsey Hopkins (softball), UNCG’s Nick Vaccaro (track and field), Western Carolina’s Bianca Melone (women’s golf) and Wofford’s Cayley Wetzig (women’s tennis).

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