Chesnavich and Rotz Named to the Philadelphia Inquirer Area All Academic Team

Philadelphia, Pa. (May 19, 2010) - University of the Sciences in Philadelphia women's basketball players Erin Chesnavich and Melissa Rotz have been named to the 2009-10 Philadelphia Inquirer Area All-Academic Team.Chesnavich and Rotz are amongst the six student-athletes selected to this year's women's basketball Area All-Academic team. The team is voted on by the sports information offices of the 28 area institutions in the Philadelphia-metropolitan area.

Chesnavich (Bishop O'Reilly High School/Pittston, Pa.) , a senior, becomes one of the first two area women's basketball players to earn Area all-Academic honors three times with her selection this year. Rotz (Central Dauphin High School/Harrisburg, Pa.), a junior, was named to the team for the second straight year.

Rotz, a pharmacy major in her second professional year (fourth overall) in the university's Doctor of Pharmacy program, currently sports a 3.99 grade point average. The junior point guard has earned several academic accolades this year including being named as a second team selection to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All District Team (second time- third team in 08-09) and the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Winter All-Academic Team (second time). Rotz was also named a Division II Athletic Director's Association (DII-ADA) Academic Achievement Award Winner in August of 2009.Rotz has earned Dean's List honors in each of her first seven semesters at the University of the Sciences.

A junior athletically, having red-shirted her first year, Rotz was the Devils point guard starting in all 27 games for the Devils this season. She led the Sciences squad in assists with 85 and minutes played with 935. The Harrisburg, Pennsylvania native averaged 5.9 points per game and was third on the team with 19 three-point field goals made. Rotz is 13th on the Devils career assists list with 184 and 14th all-time in three-point field goals made with 36.

Chesnavich, a double major (biology and physician assistant), currently has a 3.434 overall grade point average and has earned Dean's List honors the last four semesters. She recently completed her fourth and final year as a member of the Devils' women's basketball team. Erin was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 2 Women's Basketball team for the second straight year as a third team selection in 2010.

A three-time All-CACC honoree, Erin finished the season as the Devils' leading scorer (13.0 ppg.), shooter (58.7%), rebounder (7.2/gm.) and shot blocker (1.48/gm.). Her 58.7% shooting from the field led the conference for the third consecutive year and ranked her sixth nationally amongst all NCAA Division II players. Chesnavich was second in the league in blocks and ranked 74th nationally. Career wise, the Pittston, Pennsylvania native closed out her career as the Devils third all-time leading scorer with 1,445 points. She also has the best shooting percentage of any player in program history, making 56.8% of her shots from the field. Erin's 820 career rebounds rank her fifth on the Devils all-time list while her 139 career blocked shots place her second on the all-time list for the Devils. She is also a career 75.7% free throw shooter (seventh best in USP history).

Joining Rotz and Chesnavich on the Philadelphia Inquirer Area All-Academic Team are Maria Getty of Villanova University; Catherine Carr of Holy Family University; Jessica Romano of Philadelphia University, and Kathryn Stockbower of Swarthmore College. Stockbower was selected as the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Women's Basketball Performer Of The Year. Chesnavich and Romano are the first two three-time women's basketball honorees while Getty, Rotz and Stockbower are being recognized for the second time.

Student-athletes from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia have been named to the Philadelphia Area All-Academic Teams a total of 52 times since the programs inception in 2005-06. Thirteen student-athletes have been named to an area all academic team twice and seven have earned the honor three times. Five USP student-athletes have also earned Performer of the Year honors in their respective sports, with two garnering the award twice (Michelle Bauer- women's at-large (rifle) - 2006, 2008; and Amanda Bedway- women's tennis - 2007 and 2008).

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