LOUDONVILLE, NY – Representatives from Siena's men's tennis and volleyball teams were honored as the most recent recipients of the Leo Dufort Student Athlete of the Month. Seniors Guillermo Lopez Torres and Dakota Jackson each took home the award for the month of November.
A four-year member of the men's tennis squad, Lopez Torres went 6-8 in singles play during the 2019-20 season while competing at the no. 2 & 3 spots during the Saints' abbreviated campaign. He was also one half of the team's top doubles squad that went 7-5 and was named the MAAC Player of the Week on February 26, 2020.
A member of both the MAAC All-Academic Team and the MAAC Academic Honor Roll, Lopez Torres holds an impressive 3.97 cumulative GPA in biology, including a perfect 4.0 mark during the Spring 2020 term. Aside from being a member of Siena's 4.0 Club, he has twice been named an Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar and serves as a tutor in the Athletic Department's S.A.IN.T.S Office.
A co-captain and one of two seniors on the volleyball team, Jackson has appeared in 90 matches and 293 sets during the first three years of her collegiate career. Switching between outside hitter and right side, she has accumulated 654 kills and 402 digs while donning the Green and Gold. Jackson was a 2017 MAAC All-Rookie Team selection and picked up a MAAC Rookie of the Week honor that year as well.
A business management major set to graduate in the spring, Jackson has been very involved on the department's efforts to spread awareness for social justice. She is one of the founding members of Siena's Education, Diversity, Inclusion, and Togetherness initiative (E.D.I.T.), which focuses on engaging in healthy conversation to help bring about awareness and create meaningful change through social justice initiatives.
The Leo Dufort Student Athlete of the Month Award is presented nine times annually (September-May) throughout the academic year. The award recognizes exemplary achievements in both academics and athletics. The late Leo Dufort received a B.S. in marketing and management from Siena in August of 1977. His entire academic career was completed on a part-time basis beginning in the spring of 1961, as a married adult while at the same time raising five children. He passed away suddenly of a heart attack while cross country skiing in February of 1993. His wife Jeanine wanted to do something to immortalize his memory. The original plaque was donated to athletics and the department began the Leo Dufort Student Athlete of the Month Award to help carry out his legacy. Dufort graduated from Catholic Central High School in 1954 and was a Navy Veteran (USS Bennington) who worked for JL Hammett Co. at the time of his death.
