West Valley's Lee wins prestigious ITA Arthur Ashe award

SARATOGA - West Valley sophomore Lindsay Lee is the recipient of the 2024 Arthur Ashe Jr. Leadership and Sportsmanship Award, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) announced at its annual awards banquet last week in Ojai. Lee is the Junior College Region One honoree and joins three other regional winners who will vie for the national Arthur Ashe Award to be announced May 3.

"I'm beyond grateful to all the people around me – teammates, coaches, friends, family and coworkers – who have inspired me to spread the joy of learning in the classroom, playing on the court and cheering from the sidelines," said an astonished Lee after hearing her name called at the awards ceremony.

The ITA Arthur Ashe Jr. Leadership and Sportsmanship Award recognizes outstanding student-athletes in all five divisions (NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and JUCO) at the regional and national level. This prestigious award, which dates to 1982, is presented to the men's and women's national student-athletes who have exhibited outstanding sportsmanship and leadership, as well as scholastic, extracurricular and tennis achievements.

During her two years at West Valley, Lee has epitomized the term "community college student-athlete".

As a student, Lee has accumulated a near-4.0 GPA and is a member of the WVC Honors program. She was a member of the WVC student government and student newspaper in 2023 and took a trip with West Valley to the Dominican Republic in the summer of 2023 to work on sustainability and environmental projects.

Lee volunteers at WVC's College of Adaptive Arts (for students with disabilities) as a Teacher's Assistant and mentor. She is a Student Ambassador in WVC's Office of Student Needs and is a CalFresh ambassador for the California Dept. of Social Services, an organization for low-income people who want to add healthy food to their tables. She also teaches guitar off campus and tutors in WVC's Success Center.

On the court, Lee accumulated a combined 28-9 record in singles and a 27-13 mark in doubles, usually at the S1 and D1 lines. She just completed a remarkable sophomore season for Coach Lauren Hickey's Vikings, finishing as the Coast Conference singles runner-up and teaming with Faith Son to capture the Coast doubles title. At last week's 3C2A State Championship tournament, Lee came up short in an epic quarterfinal battle to eventual champion Nareen Cheam of American River College.

For the undefeated (12-0) 2023 Coast Conference champion Vikings, Lee was 14-5 in singles and advanced to singles quarterfinals of the 3C2A championship tournament in Ojai. In 2023, she was a Coast Conference doubles semifinalist and ended the year ranked seventh in California in doubles.

"It has been a joy to work with Lindsay the past few years," said Hickey. "She has worked hard to develop her game and become one of the best in the state. It has been a privilege to also see her impact on our campus and community. I am so proud of Lindsay to be honored as the Arthur Ashe Award recipient."   

(Matt Folsom, West Valley College Athletics)