April 23, 2008

NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State men's tennis players senior Luka Marinkovic and junior Daniel Tobar were selected as First-Team Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athletes on Wednesday, April 23, as voted by the league's tennis sports information directors. This is Marinkovic and Tobar's second such honors as the teammates were also selected as 2007 first-team scholar-athletes.

"Tennis and school are our top priorities and finding that balance is important," said head coach Cris James. "Clearly these two did a great job of achieving that. Both of these guys obviously worked very hard in the classroom. Succeeding in the classroom as well as on the court is important to our program."

While at Illinois State Marinkovic has compiled a 3.82 cumulative GPA while majoring in Finance. The Uzice, Serbia native has also garnered six AFNI Honor Roll selections as a student-athlete at Illinois State. On the court, Marinkovic is currently ranked No. 3 all-time in Illinois State history with 79 career doubles wins and No. 8 all-time in singles victories with 72.

Daniel Tobar has earned a 3.41 cumulative GPA while majoring in International Business at Illinois State. The native of Santiago, Chile has earned four AFNI Honor Roll selections as an Illinois State student-athlete. Tobar, like Marinkovic, has also found success on the court, his 53 doubles wins places him in a tie for eighth all-time in Illinois State history.

The duo comprises Illinois State's strongest doubles team garnering a national ranking of No.47 at one point this season.

Combined, 31 individuals qualified for scholar-athlete honors this year. To be eligible for selection to the team, a student-athlete must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0, be at least a sophomore in academic and athletic standing and participate as a starter or important reserve role for his team. A minimum of two votes was required to earn honorable mention.