Case Western Reserve University graduate student Hannah Kassaie is the recipient of the Elite Scholar-Athlete Award for the 2026 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship.
Kassaie, a medical school student at CWRU, carried a 4.0 cumulative grade point average as an undergraduate student at the University. She was presented with the award prior to the start of the NCAA Individual Championships on Friday morning at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The Elite Scholar-Athlete Award (formerly the Elite 90 Award) was the third of Kassaie's career, putting her in rare territory. She is the first women's tennis player at any Division to claim the honor three times, and just the second tennis player (men's or women's) overall to win the award three separate years, along with former Spartan men's tennis player Sahil Dayal. She is the 25th student-athlete with three or more Elite Scholar-Athlete honors (and the 11th Division III student-athlete), and the 19th student-athlete in NCAA history to receive the honor three or more times in the same sport.
Kassaie became the third CWRU student-athlete this academic year to be honored (along with men's swimmer William Froass and men's tennis player Ansh Shah), and it was the 17th time in department history that a CWRU student-athlete has received the honor (the seventh among all NCAA schools and third among Division III programs). This was both the fourth consecutive year and the fourth time in program history a CWRU women's tennis player has received the honor, with Kassaie also earning the award in 2023 and 2024, and former Spartan Lily McCloskey securing it last year.
The Elite Scholar-Athlete award recognizes the true essence of student-athletes by honoring the individuals who have reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in their sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among their peers. The Elite Scholar-Athlete award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships.
Eligible student-athletes are sophomores or above academically who have participated in a sport for at least two years with their school. All ties are broken based on the number of credits completed.
For more information on the Elite Scholar-Athlete award winners, log on to https://www.ncaa.org/elitescholarathlete.
Kassaie, one of the best players in program history, was selected to the NCAA Individual Championships for the fourth time in her career. She has gone 10-3 in singles play, and 13-0 in doubles matches this season, while earning All-University Athletic Association First-Team recognition for her play at no. 1 singles and doubles. She is currently ranked 49th in singles play and sixth in doubles in Division III. The 2024 UAA Player of the Year, Kassaie has set program records for career singles wins (77) and overall wins (151) and ranks third in program history in career doubles wins (74).
Kassaie is scheduled to compete in both the singles and doubles draws of the NCAA Division III Individual Championships, starting on Friday, May 22, in Chattanooga.
