Tennis Earns Multiple 2026 CSC Academic All-District Honors

STARKVILLE – The Mississippi State men's and women's tennis programs were well represented on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District teams, the organization announced Tuesday. The 2026 Academic All-District team, as selected by the CSC, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the tennis court and in the classroom.

Representing the men on the academic all-district team are Mario Martinez Serrano, Petar Jovanovic, Benito Sanchez Martinez and Niccolo Baroni, while Chiara Di Genova represent the women's squad.

Student-athletes who are at least a sophomore academically and athletically are eligible to be nominated when they have at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA, and for graduate students, it must be 3.50 for both undergraduate and graduate. Additionally, all nominees must be in the lineup for at least 70% of the team's matches (regional competitions such as ITAs and non-team-scored events do not count).

Chiara Di Genova
• Has earned a 3.79 GPA in Finance.
• This is her second consecutive CSC Academic All-District honor.
• Has earned multiple academic honors, including SEC Academic Honor Roll (2025), ITA Scholar Athlete (2024, 2025), and ACC Academic Honor Roll (2024).
• Set career marks in dual singles wins (10) and overall singles wins (13).
• Set career marks in dual doubles wins (13) and overall doubles wins (17).
• Career-high doubles ranking of #11 with teammate Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz

Mario Martinez Serrano
• Has earned a 3.71 GPA in University Studies.
• This is his third consecutive CSC Academic All-District honor.
• Has earned multiple academic honors, including SEC Academic Honor Roll (2025) and ITA Scholar Athlete (2025, 2026).
• Earned Second Team All-SEC honors this season.
• Won 20 dual singles matches and 12 dual doubles matches.

Petar Jovanovic
• Has earned a 3.94 GPA in Finance.
• He is now a three-time academic all-district honoree.
• Earned 2026 ITA All-America honors in both singles and doubles.
• Earned First Team All-SEC honors.
• Has earned multiple academic honors, including SEC Academic Honor Roll (2025), ITA Scholar Athlete (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026).
• Became Mississippi State's all-time wins leader (combined singles and doubles) with over 200 career wins.

Benito Sanchez Martinez
• Has earned a 3.60 GPA in Business Administration.
• He is now a two-time academic all-district honoree.
• Has earned multiple academic honors, including SEC Academic Honor Roll (2023, 2024, 2025) and ITA Scholar Athlete (2024, 2025, 2026).
• Earned 2026 ITA All-America honors in doubles.
• Named 2026 SEC Player of the Year after going 12-3 in SEC play, all wins coming at No. 1 singles. He also won seven doubles matches in SEC play.
• Earned First Team All-SEC honors.

Niccolo Baroni
• Has a 3.93 GPA in Kinesiology-Clinical Exercise Physiology.
• Has earned multiple academic honors, including SEC Academic Honor Roll (2025) and ITA Scholar Athlete (2025, 2026).
• Earned Second Team All-SEC honors.
• In dual matches, Baroni won 13 singles matches and seven doubles matches.

Academic All-District honorees are considered for advancement to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. Academic All-America honorees will be announced on June 2 for the women and June 3 for the men.

For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU Tennis at HailStateMT and HailStateWT on X and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateMT" and "HailStateWT"

– HailState.com –

Mississippi State University Athletics

Tennis Earns Multiple 2026 CSC Academic All-District Honors

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Players Mentioned

Niccolo Baroni

Chiara Di Genova

Petar Jovanovic

Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz

Mario Martinez Serrano

Benito Sanchez Martinez

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