Ansh Shah & Hannah Kassaie of CWRU Receive NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
Case Western Reserve University graduate students Ansh Shah and Hannah Kassaie were each selected to receive the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship based on their athletic and academic achievements, in addition to their leadership and service, during their time as Spartans.
Every year, the NCAA awards 126 postgraduate scholarships for $10,000, with 21 men and 21 women receiving the award each season (fall, winter, and spring). Student-athletes must have exhausted their athletic eligibility or not intend to use any remaining eligibility to be considered for the honor. Forty-two Spartan student-athletes have received the award throughout the scholarship's history, including 21 over the last 11 years.
Shah, a medical school student at CWRU, carried a 4.0 cumulative grade point average as an undergraduate student at the University and was named the NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete Award winner for men's tennis earlier this spring. He has been a multiple-time ITA Scholar-Athlete and a University Athletic Association Spring All-Academic honoree over his career. Shah is a two-time CSC Academic All-American, earning a spot on the second team in 2023 and 2024.
Athletically, Shah returned to the court as a graduate student this year after missing the entire spring of his senior year due to injury to make a massive impact on the squad, earning all-UAA First Team acclaim for his play at no. 4 singles. He went 12-2 overall this season in singles matches with a 9-2 mark in no. 4 singles matches, and stands at 86-24 overall in singles play during his career. He was an All-American as a first-year player, while also earning ITA Central Region and UAA Rookie of the Year honors, and was named to the All-UAA team three times over his career.
Shah is the second CWRU men's tennis player to receive the honor all-time, joining Matthew Chen, who secured the scholarship in 2021.
Kassaie is the most decorated player in the history of the CWRU women's tennis program, earning both singles and doubles All-America honors each of the four years of her career, including this season, when she returned as a medical school student after taking a year off to reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA doubles draw and the round of 16 of the singles tournament. She ended her career as the program's all-time leader in singles wins (79-15), singles winning percentage (.840), and doubles winning percentage (.828), while ranking second in doubles wins (77-16). She was the 2024 UAA Player of the Year, an eight-time All-UAA First Team selection, and the 2024 ITA Senior Player of the Year.
Academically, she was named the Elite Scholar-Athlete for Division III women's tennis, becoming the first women's tennis player (any NCAA division) to win the honor three times. She was an NCAA Woman of the Year finalist in 2024, a two-time CSC Academic All-America First Team selection, and the winner of the 2024 ITA Sally Ride STEM Award. Kassaie had a 4.0 GPA as an undergraduate student at CWRU with a major in nutrition.
Kassaie became the third player in program history to receive the scholarship, joining Nithya Kanagasegar (2019) and Madeleine Paolucci (2021).
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage graduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championships and/or emerging sports. Athletics and academic achievements, campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities, and demonstrated leadership are evaluated. An equitable approach is employed in reviewing an applicant's nomination form to provide all student-athlete nominees an opportunity to receive the graduate award, regardless of sport, division, gender, or race. In maintaining the highest broad-based standards in the selection process, the program aims to reward those individuals whose dedication and effort are reflective of those characteristics necessary to succeed and thrive through graduate study.