Natalie Da Silveira of UC Santa Barbara women’s tennis was named the university’s Scholar Athlete of the Year at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon.
She was named to the All-Big West teams in 2016 and 2017. In the NCAA individual tournament in 2017, she took a round, nabbing the school’s first ever victory in a single round at the tourney.
Da Silveira will get another swing at the NCAA big stage on May 24.
In the classroom, she has a 3.55 GPA across courses in culture and development, education, child and adolescent development and other education and applied psychology topics. She is the 2018 Golden Eagle recipient at UCSB and was additionally named to the Dean’s List in 2015 and 2016. She was also honored for having a high GPA and winning record combo.
She hasn’t forgotten the community along the way. She took part in Habitat For Humanity’s home rebuilding effort in the wake of the Montecito mudslides, the Santa Barbara Special Olympics and she coaches local tennis players with special needs.
She has been nationally ranked with two different doubles partners simultaneously. Throughout her career, Da Silveira has competed around the world, including in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, London, Croatia, Portugal, Spain and her home country of Brazil.
Da Silveira hails from São Paulo, Brazil. She comes from a tennis family; her father is a world top 10 player in his age division and her brother took the courts for Brown. One of Da Silveira’s career goals is to play mixed doubles with her brother.
In the long term, Da Silveira wants to focus on global conflicts, environmental politics and education. She plans on going to law school to pursue international law, sports law or criminal law.
— Noozhawk sports reporter Shomik Mukherjee can be reached at smukherjee@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @noozhawksports, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.