SOFIA VEGA OF TEXAS LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY, a senior on the women's tennis team, has been named the SCAC Character & Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week for the week beginning March 28, 2016.
The SCAC honors the efforts of student-athletes who excel in the field of athletics, and also serve their campus and community.
Vega, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico and Corpus Christi, Texas, is a three-time ITA All-American, a three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete, and a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Vega has played in three NCAA Division III Women’s Singles Championships and won two USTA/ITA Southwest Regional Championships. She has played in two USTA/ITA Small College National Championships.
A two-time SCAC Women’s Player of the Year and the 2014-15 TLU Female Student-Athlete of the Year, Vega is the Bulldogs’ all-time leader in singles victories and doubles victories.
Vega just won her 100th collegiate singles match – a 6-0, 6-0 victory Thursday over Vinci Chen of the California Institute of Technology. Vega is 100-18 (.847) in singles and 60-38 (.612) in doubles play at TLU.
A Biology major, Vega has been accepted to the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State University and will pursue a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine.
Vega has volunteered and interned at a variety of places in preparation for her veterinary career. In the summer of 2015, she completed an internship in the reptile department at the San Antonio Zoo.
Vega has also worked at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi, helping at the sea lab in recovery and rehabilitation of injured birds and sea animals. She spent part of the summer of 2014 observing the large animal hospital at Texas A&M University in College Station.
“I’ve also volunteered at some vaccine clinics in San Antonio in some areas that maybe people don’t have a lot of money to get their pets vaccinated. We’ve gone out there and helped them do that.”
Vega has also participated in research for a new vaccination to help animals that have been bitten by rattlesnakes.
“This research with Dr. (William) Campaigne in Seguin is trying to develop a new rattlesnake vaccine for dogs,” said Vega. “We’ve conducted research with mice and the venom. It is not an antidote, but (the vaccination) buys more time for you to get your animal to the vet. We are still in the testing phase with the vaccination.”
Vega will graduate from TLU in May 2016.