COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Four Western New Mexico University men's tennis players were named to the All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Academic Teams as announced by the conference office Wednesday.


Rodrigo Almeida (Arapongas, Brazil/Nene Lourenco High School), a junior from Arapongas, Brazil, was named to the First-Team. He currently holds a 3.46 GPA and is majoring in movement sciences. Almeida was named the Preseason Player of the Year and was named to the Second-Team All-Conference. He won 11 matches at the top flight which included five wins in conference, along with a win over Point Loma. In doubles with teammate Juan Pablo Fuentes (Guadalajara, Mexico/) at the top slot, they won 11 matches.


Alvaro Nunez (Madrid, Spain/), a sophomore from Madrid, Spain, was named to the First-Team. Nunez had 12 wins in 2013 and 13 in doubles play with teammate Francisco Damasio (Jundiai, Brazil/Centro Educational Sigma ). Nunez won all five of his conference matches in the regular season and in doubles, they strung together a streak of seven straight which included wins over Southern Utah and Seattle, while going perfect in RMAC regular season action. They were named to the First-Team doubles squad.


Omar Lopez (Naucalpan, Mexico/), a sophomore from Naucalpan, Mexico, was named to the Second-Team. He currently holds a 3.81 GPA and is majoring in business management. Lopez won all three singles matches that he played, while also winning seven doubles matches playing with Damasio, Roy Ulibarri (Dexter, NM/Dexter High School) and Almeida.


Damasio, a junior from Jundiai, Brazil, was named to the Honor Roll. He currently holds a 3.34 GPA and is majoring in business management. Damasio won 14 singles matches during the season playing anywhere from No. 3 to No. 6. In doubles with teammate Nunez, they won 13 matches and were named to the First-Team doubles.


WNMU won the RMAC regular season and tournament championships in 2013 for the fourth straight year as they advanced to the South Central Regional.

First Team All-Academic

Name Year School Hometown GPA Major

#Gabriel Vlahos Sr. Metro State Sao Paulo, Brazil 3.36 Business Administration

Rodrigo Almeida (Arapongas, Brazil/Nene Lourenco High School) Jr. Western New Mexico Arapongas, Brazil 3.46 Movement Sciences

Alex Lesiuk Sr. CSU-Pueblo Winnipeg, Canada 3.77 Exercise Science

Alvaro Nunez (Madrid, Spain/) So. Western New Mexico Madrid, Spain 3.78 Business Management

Jordan Lyden So. Colorado Mesa St. George, Utah 3.41 Business

Ryan Joyce Sr. Metro State Cheyenne, Wyo. 4.00 Psychology

#- 2013 RMAC Academic Player of the Year

Second Team All-Academic

Name Year School Hometown GPA Major

Navin Marimuthu Sr. Montana State Billings Chennai, India 3.49 Business Admin.: Accounting

Anthony Breitenbach Sr. CSU-Pueblo Tigard, Ore. 3.40 Exercise Science

Jonathan Evangelista Jr. Metro State Brighton, Colo. 3.33 Civil Engineering Technology

Omar Lopez (Naucalpan, Mexico/) So. Western New Mexico Naucalpan, Mexico 3.81 Business Management

Alex Siemers So. Colorado Christian Shawnee, Kan. 4.00 Political Science

Brad Knutson Sr. Montana State Billings Billings, Mont. 3.48 Music Education

Honor Roll

Name Year School Hometown GPA Major

Taylor Bryan Sr. Colorado Christian Las Cruces, N.M. 3.51 Biology

Dillon Etter So. Colorado Christian Tulsa, Okla. 3.54 Business Administration

Chris Flathers Sr. Colorado Christian Cape Elizabeth, Maine 3.78 Biblical Studies

Tom Chavez Sr. CSU-Pueblo Pueblo, Colo. 3.39 Business Administration

Alexandro Moncayo-Samperio Jr. CSU-Pueblo Veracruz, Mexico 3.85 Psychology

Saul Shrom Jr. CSU-Pueblo Winnipeg, Canada 3.99 Psychology & Sociology

Christian Fischer Jr. Montana State Billings Berlin, Germany 3.54 Business Management

Francisco Damasio (Jundiai, Brazil/Centro Educational Sigma ) Jr. Western New Mexico Jundiai, Brazil 3.34 Business Management