JAMAICA, N.Y. -- St. Johns University senior mens tennis player Erik Scharf (Yonkers, N.Y./Roosevelt) was named to the Verizon Spring At-Large Academic All-America University Division first team, it was announced today. Student-athletes must have a grade-point average of 3.2 or higher to be considered for the team. The first team is made of up 15 student-athletes who competed in tennis, track & field, golf and lacrosse.

Scharf led the Red Storm to a 10-7 overall record this season, including a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament, where the team finished fifth overall. He posted a 31-4 record during the regular season, reached the NCAA Singles Tournament for the second-straight year and finished the year ranked 79th nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

At the NCAAs, Scharf beat Romain Ambert of Mississippi State, before losing in two sets in the second round.

Scharf graduated as the all-time winningest player in St. Johns history, with 120 wins and 22 losses. He never lost a BIG EAST match and posted a 60-6 record at the No. 1 position, which he occupied at St. Johns for the last four years.

He advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Eastern Regional Championship as the No. 3 seed this year, advanced to the finals of the Farnsworth Invitational, was a three-time champion at the Army Invitational, won the ECAC and UCONN Championships and was a 2000 ITA All-American qualifier.

Off the court, Scharf was equally as successful. He carried a 3.94 grade-point average in theology and earned a 4.0 for five-straight semesters. In addition, he was named a BIG EAST Academic All-Star and to the ITA Academic Team.

Scharf was joined on the team by Mike Adams of Notre Dame (lacrosse); Marco Baron of Mississippi State (tennis); Charles Clinger of Weber State (track & field); Eric Dudley of Washington State (track & field); Jake Galbreath of Vermont (track & field); Joe Hall of Wyoming (track & field); John Hedengren of Brigham Young (track & field); K.J. Hippensteel of Stanford (tennis); John Marshall of Elon (golf); Yew Ming Si of Illinois State (tennis); Bryce Molder of Georgia Tech (golf); Brad Morris of Eastern Kentucky (golf); Tim Surface of Tulsa (track & field) and Dan Swan of Purdue (tennis).

Scharf is the third St. Johns student-athlete to earn Verizon Academic All-American honors this year, joining senior mens soccer goalie Jeff Stoklosa (Newark, Del./Salesianum) and senior fencer Alex Roytblat (Ashdod, Israel/Ort Oleysky).