ROCK HILL, S.C. --- For a third straight season, Tusculum University's Annie McCullough has been named the South Atlantic Conference Women's Tennis Scholar Athlete of the Year announced league officials Thursday.
McCullough becomes the first three-time recipient of this award in conference history. This marks the sixth time in seven years and 10th time overall that a Tusculum student-athlete has earned SAC Women's Tennis Scholar Athlete of the Year honors. McCullough and SAC Hall of Famer Lesley Murray (2003 & 2004) are the only multi-time selections of this honor in program history.
The SAC Scholar Athlete of the Year award is presented annually to one student-athlete in each of the Conference's championship sports and is voted on by the SAC's Faculty Athletic Representatives Committee. The winners are selected based on their achievements in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
McCullough, a graduate student from Belfast, Northern Ireland, earned a 3.985 cumulative grade point average while earning her undergraduate degree majoring in chemistry with minors in mathematics and solar research. All four years prior to the fifth year of her Pioneer career, she has been a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Tusculum's Athletic Director's Honor Roll, the Dean's List, the President's List, Charles Oliver Gray Honors List and an ITA Scholar-Athlete.
"Annie is a tremendous student and athlete and it is completely due to her incredible drive to be successful," said Tusculum head coach Adam Jackson. "She is a very special person that has done amazing things for our program and the Tusculum community, and she is very deserving of such a great honor once again."
She was one of the founding members of the hydrogen evolution research program at Tusculum, which is designed to develop a catalyst for use in solar energy applications. She was the recipient of the TU Senior Key Award for Excellence in Chemistry in 2020 and the Northeast Tennessee Section of the American Chemical Society Outstanding Graduating Senior Award.
McCullough has been a member of the Pioneer Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as the team representative every year. She has also participated in Nettie Day of Service, a campus-wide community service project at Tusculum, and the Make-A-Wish Fun Run/Walk. McCullough has been a part of the tennis team's efforts to assist a local family during the holiday season with Adopt-a-Family.
McCullough was a first-team All-SAC selection in both singles and doubles this year, where she teamed with her sister Caitlin. She is a four-time All-Conference honoree in singles including 2019 when she garnered SAC Women's Tennis Player of the Year accolades. She finished the regular season with a 13-2 record at No. 1 singles for the Pioneers, including a 6-2 mark in conference play. McCullough is the winningest singles player in program history, owning a career mark of 104-17.
As a duo, the McCullough sisters went 12-3 overall this season and finished with a 5-3 record in conference competition, including four straight wins to end the regular season. The pair was named first-team All-Conference for the third time, after finishing the season 16th in the latest ITA Division II doubles rankings. The duo, which earned ITA All-America honors in 2019-20, holds a career record of 74-17.
Last year, she was named a top-nine national finalist for the prestigious NCAA National Woman of the Year Award. She is two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American, earning second team recognition in 2019 and first team accolades in 2020.
During her career, she led the Pioneers to three NCAA Division II Tournament appearances along with the 2017 SAC Tournament title and the 2019 SAC Championship. Her teams posted a combined 75-25 overall record including 37-9 in league play.
She was named the 2020 SAC International Woman of the Year and is a two-time Tusculum University Female Athlete of the Year (2017-18 & 2018-19).
McCullough joins an elite group at Tusculum, becoming only the fifth TU student-athlete to earn SAC Scholar Athlete of the Year honors three times for their respective sport. She joins football tight end Jarrell NeSmith (2007-2009), women's basketball guard Julie Maples (2003-2005), men's golfer Chase Carroll (2007-2009) and men's tennis standout Lukas Winkelmann (2013-2015).
