UMBC tennis standout Lana Khvalina '04 has become the first student-athlete in school history to receive a scholarship from the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee. Khvalina, who will utilize the $7,500 award to attend law school at the College of William & Mary this fall, is one of 174 NCAA student-athletes to receive the scholarship in the 2003-04 academic year.

A month ago, the Rochester, New York native Khvalina became the first student-athlete in school history to earn First Team Academic All American honors in back-to-back years. Another tennis player, Oscar Lopez, earned First Team honors in 1998-99 and Second Team honors in 1999-2000.

Khvalina earned her undergraduate degree in three years with a 4.0 GPA in political science and was the University's salutatorian this spring. On the tennis court, she finished her singles career with a record of 62-20 and reached the "B" flight singles final the the Old Point National Bank ITA Invitational last fall. A state finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship, the two-time All Conference honoree competed on two squads which went to the NCAA Championships (2002, 2003).

She also recently earned a 2004 post-graduate scholarship from the Maryland Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

Khvalina is just one of many outstanding student-athletes at UMBC. The Retrievers broke four school records in the classroom for the spring 2004 semester.