Ashlan Allison of Anderson receives national tennis award

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Ashlan Allison with her award

BOURBONNAIS, IL (05/16/2013)(readMedia)-- Olivet Nazarene University announces that Ashlan Allison - a senior from Anderson and a member of Olivet's women's tennis team - has received the 2013 ITA/NAIA Arthur Ashe Jr. Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship. The award was presented to her at the National Tennis Championships banquet, hosted by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), on Monday, May 13, 2013.

This honor recognizes Allison for her hard work and dedication to academics, athletics and community involvement. She is a two-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete and a three-time member of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) All-Academic team.

"We are proud of Ashlan, a young lady who has represented our tennis program and the ONU athletic department so well," said Gary Newsome, athletic director. "She has won nearly 150 matches, has a 4.0 GPA, and will graduate with a double major. This is the definition of success - not the number of wins and losses, but going beyond the game. Ashlan has accomplished that."

Allison will graduate from Olivet with honors in August, 2013, with a bachelor's degree in social work and a second bachelor's degree in business with concentrations in marketing and not-for-profit management. At this time, she has a 4.0 grade point average.

On April 23, 2012, Allison won her 100th career match as a member of the Tigers' tennis team. As a senior, she currently has a singles record of 19-11 and a doubles record of 18-5. She helped lead the team to CCAC Regular Season and Tournament titles this season, earning an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.

Outside of the classroom and off the court, Allison is busy helping others. She has served on mission trips to Guatemala and Haiti, and also several mission trips within the United States - including a relief trip to aide Hurricane Katrina victims.

She has also been active in her community, with the United Way, as well as volunteering with her church and at local schools, nursing homes and independent living locations. She has assisted with various projects through Enactus, Olivet's business club.

"I feel so blessed to receive this award," Allison says. "It is an honor to represent Christ, my team and Olivet in this way."

Allison is just the second Olivet tennis player to receive this honor and the first from the women's tennis team. In 2000, Craig Manes - a 2000 Olivet graduate - of Tiger men's tennis received the distinction.

Olivet Nazarene University is an accredited Christian, liberal arts university offering more than 100 areas of undergraduate and graduate study, including the Doctor of Education in ethical leadership. Olivet has one main campus in Bourbonnais, Ill. - just 50 miles south of Chicago; three additional sites: Rolling Meadows and Oak Brook, Ill., and Hong Kong; and more than 100 School of Graduate and Continuing Studies learning locations throughout Chicagoland and the Midwest. From Oxford to Tokyo, hundreds of Olivet students also experience the global classroom each year, whether through study abroad opportunities or worldwide mission trips.

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Contact:

Laura Warfel

Public Relations Specialist

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Ill.

www.olivet.edu

815-928-5403

lwwarfel@olivet.edu