INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced its 2022-23 postgraduate scholarship men’s awardees and recently graduated Gustavus men’s tennis player Nick Aney (Rochester) was one of 21 student-athletes out of all three divisions to receive the prestigious scholarship.
Aney is the 40th Gustavus student-athlete to receive an NCAA postgraduate scholarship since football player James Goodwin became the first in 1974.
“The NCAA Postgraduate scholarship is another tremendous and well-deserved honor for Nick and our program,” Head Coach Tommy Valentini said. “He had a tremendous career in the classroom and on the tennis court in terms of his results, and more importantly, in terms of his living our values. We are grateful he was selected for this prestigious award, and we look forward to cheering him on and supporting his progress in his exciting next chapter at UNC.”
Aney, who graduated with a 3.99 GPA in biochemistry, recently earned his third consecutive CSC Academic All-America honor and received the College’s first Academic All-American of the Year award. Aney is a three-time All-American after reaching the quarterfinals of the 2023 NCAA Doubles Championships with partner Daniel Fouchier. Aney also reached the semifinals of the 2021 NCAA Doubles Championships with partner Alex Budde, and finished in the top eight at the 2021 ITA Cup after upsetting the No. 1-ranked team in the country in the first round. Aney received the 2022 MIAC Arthur Ashe Award and is a two-time MIAC Elite 22 Award winner. Aney posted a career singles record of 48-38 and is 71-35 in doubles play. He helped the Gusties win conference championships in both the regular season and playoff in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023, and capped his senior season by clinching the match point in an upset win over defending national champion Chicago to go to the Elite Eight. In the final 2023 ITA Division III rankings, Aney and Fouchier ranked No. 16 in the nation in doubles, while Aney was the No. 28 singles player in the country.
To qualify for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, student-athletes must excel academically and athletically, be in their final year of eligibility and plan to pursue graduate study. Student-athletes must also maintain at least a 3.2 grade-point average and be nominated by their institution’s faculty athletics representative. Created in 1964, NCAA postgraduate scholarships promote and encourage education by rewarding the Association’s most accomplished student-athletes.
The NCAA awards up to 126 postgraduate scholarships annually. The one-time non-renewable scholarships of $10,000 are awarded three times a year corresponding to each sport season (fall, winter and spring). Each sports season there are 21 scholarships available for men and 21 scholarships available for women for use in an accredited graduate program.
All former student-athletes who earned an undergraduate degree from an NCAA member school are eligible to be nominated by that school for an NCAA graduate degree scholarship, regardless of when they received their undergraduate degree.