MANSFIELD, Mass. – Graduate students Williem van Biezen (Sassenheim, Netherlands) of the Southern New Hampshire University men's tennis team and Hélène Servais (Brussels, Belgium) of the the field hockey squad were selected as finalists for the Northeast-10 Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, respectively, Wednesday.
van Biezen, one of three male finalists for the honor, is the owner of an MBA (3.714) and a Bachelor's degree in International Business (3.744) from SNHU. The captain has been stellar on the court and in the classroom. A perennial member of SNHU's President's List and Dean's List, as well as the NE10 Academic Honor Roll, van Biezen was an ITA All-American and the East Region Senior Player of the Year in 2020. van Biezen, a a four-time NE10 All-Conference First Team selection at both singles and doubles, helped lead the Penmen to the 2019 NE10 title and then captured the ITA East Region singles championship the following fall. This season, van Biezen was 7-2 in singles play and 8-1 in doubles.
Servais, who earned a perfect 4.0 in pursuit of her MBA, following a 3.921 in her International Business program, is one of three female finalists. Servais has been a top-notch student-athlete at SNHU, earning NFHCA honors as a Scholar of Distinction in 2020. She is a four-time member of the NFHCA National Academic Squad, a D2ADA Academic Achievement Award winner and a CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large Team selection. She also made a big impact on the field, earning NFHCA All-America First Team honors in 2019 when she re-wrote the program's single-season record book with 42 points on 15 goals and 12 assists. Servais also collected NE10 All-Conference First Team and NE10 Rookie of the Year accolades over the course of her career. Additionally, Servais is responsible for bringing Hope Happens Here (HHH), a mental health awareness campaign, to the SNHU campus.
Previously, SNHU has had one NE10 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in Jonathan Lupinelli (2016), while Servais would be the first NE10 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in school history.
Eligibility requirements for nomination are that a student-athlete must be in their final year of athletic eligibility, graduating with a degree in May (unless in a master's program), must be enrolled in a full-time course load and must have a minimum final cumulative grade point average of 3.30. A committee made up of faculty members and athletic administrators conducts voting for the awards.
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