June 2, 2017
Astra Sharma of the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team was named one of four nominees for the Honda Sport Award for Tennis as announced by Chris Voelz, Executive Director of THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) today.
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 41 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA- sanctioned sports and signifies “the best of the best in collegiate athletics”.
Ranked No. 2 in the nation, Sharma joins No. 1 Francesca Di Lorenzo from Ohio State University, the NCAA Singles Champion in Michigan’s Brienne Minor, and NCAA Singles Finalist, Belinda Woolcock, from the University of Florida.
The nominees were chosen by a combination of NCAA finish and ITA rankings. The Honda Sport award winner for tennis will be announced next week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.
Hailing from Perth, Australia, Sharma is the 2017 ITA Player to Watch and the 2017 SEC Player of the Year. The three-time All-American and SEC honoree was the top-seed in the 2017 NCAA Doubles Championship and was seeded 4th in Singles before missing competition due to illness. Sharma finished the season tying a career-high ranking of No. 2 in the final ITA rankings and was 32-8 overall, 24-6 versus ranked opponents, and boasts a 93-27-career record.
The winner of the sport award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2017 Honda Cup which will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on Monday, June 26, 2017, in downtown Los, Angeles.