AUSTIN, Texas --- Tusculum women's tennis student-athlete Franziska Funke has been named to the 2018 Google Cloud NCAA Division II Academic All-America® Women's At-Large first team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

The Google Cloud Academic All-America® at-large program includes the sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming and diving, tennis, water polo for both men and women; bowling, crew and field hockey for women; volleyball and wrestling for men and women's beach volleyball.

Funke garners first team honors for the first time in her career after being named to the Academic All-America® At-Large second team in each of the previous two seasons.   She becomes the first three-time Academic All-America® in the history of Tusculum women's tennis.

Funke also becomes only the fourth Tusculum student-athlete to earn Academic All-America® honors on three occasions in a career, joining three-time honorees Simon Holzapfel (men's cross country: 2008, 2009, 2010), Lukas Winkelmann (men's tennis: 2013, 2014, 2015) and Carlie Thornber (women's soccer: 2015, 2016, 2017).

Funke graduated from Tusculum earlier this month with a degree in management and economics.  She finished with an impressive 3.99 cumulative grade point average while earning recognition to the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll, President's List, Charles Oliver Gray Honors List and is a member of the Alpha Chi Academic Honor Society.

Funke was honored earlier with the SAC Women's Tennis Scholar Athlete of the Year Award, becoming the third Pioneer in the last four years to be honored and seventh in program history.  She is the first three-time Academic All-District honoree in program history and will be vying for her third Academic All-America® recognition after garnering second team honors in each of the last two years.

The Bochum, Germany native was named All-SAC first team in singles for a third time in her career after compiling a 15-4 record this season.  She finishes as Tusculum's career leader in singles victories with 69 (69-15). Funke played primarily at number-two singles for the Pioneers, where she went 12-4 overall, and had an 8-2 record in SAC singles matches during the 2018 season.  For her efforts she was named the recipient of the Southeast Region Most Improved Senior Award which is selected by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Funke was nationally-ranked in singles for most of the 2018 season, reaching as high as 31st in the Oracle/ITA Division II national singles rankings. Funke won 12 of her 15 singles matches in straight sets, and had a perfect 3-0 record in matches that went to three sets or a tiebreaker. She won the A draw singles title at the Grizzly Open at Georgia Gwinnett in the fall by winning four matches.

Funke won at least 14 singles matches in each of her four seasons for the Pioneers, including a stellar 22-1 record as a sophomore. She compiled a 45-9 career singles record at the number-two position in the lineup, and also earned seven wins in 10 career contests at the top of the singles lineup.

In doubles, Funke teamed with Majorova for an 18-3 record this season, including a 15-2 mark at the No. 2 position in the Tusculum lineup. Funke and Majorova had a 9-1 record in conference doubles matches and were named first-team All-SAC for the second straight year as a duo.

A three-time All-SAC first team doubles selection in her career, Funke finished with a career record of 74-18 in doubles for the Pioneers, including an 18-1 mark as a freshman and 21 victories as a junior. She had a 28-3 record at No. 2 doubles for the Pioneers, and a 42-13 mark at top-flight doubles.

To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.