On Wednesday, two University of Iowa women’s tennis players were honored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Freshman Alexa Noel was named ITA Central Regional Rookie of the Year, and senior Elise van Heuvelen Treadwell claimed the ITA’s Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award in the central region.

The ITA annually names 12 regional winners and one national recipient of its Rookie of the Year and Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship awards.

Wednesday marked the first time in history that two Iowa women’s tennis players had received individual postseason honors from the ITA in the same year.

Noel finished the 2020-21 season 24-1, suffering her only loss of the year in the second round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships. She received the Big Ten Conference’s Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards on May 3. Noel is the first player in Iowa women’s tennis history to garner league player of the year honors.

The 23 wins Noel racked up before the NCAA tournament guaranteed her All-American status for the 2020-21 season —  making her the first player in Iowa women’s tennis history to earn All-American recognition.

The Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award is the second ITA Central Regional honor van Heuvelen Treadwell has received. In 2020, van Heuvelen Treadwell was the ITA’s Central Regional Senior of the Year.

Van Heuvelen Treadwell ranks second in Iowa women’s tennis history with 180 combined singles and doubles wins. Her 95 singles victories and 85 doubles wins are good for fourth and second, respectively, in the Hawkeyes’ record books.

Per an Iowa Athletics release Wednesday afternoon, Noel has opted to return to Iowa for the 2021-22 collegiate season and table her run at a career in professional tennis for another year.