DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Embry-Riddle men's tennis alumnus Juan Ortiz Couder has been named an NCAA Today's Top 10 Award winner the NCAA announced on Monday. Ortiz Couder and nine other outstanding student-athletes representing all three NCAA divisions will be recognized at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio, Texas on January 11.
 
Ortiz Couder is the second student-athlete and the only male in Sunshine State Conference history to win the award which recognizes former student-athletes for their successes on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The recipients all completed their athletics eligibility during the 2021-22 academic year.

"I feel extremely proud to be selected as an NCAA Today's Top 10 Award winner," Oritz Couder said. "It's the culmination of a career-long goal of aiming to put the Embry-Riddle tennis team where it deserves to be. I don't see it an individual success, but as the sum of all the people that have helped me accomplish everything during my years playing at Embry-Riddle. I couldn't have done it without them."

The NCAA Today's Top 10 Award is just one of many earned by Ortiz Couder during his stellar career with Embry-Riddle Men's Tennis. Throughout his storied career, Ortiz Couder has epitomized the Eagles' Student-Person-Player mantra having excelled in the classroom and on the court, as well as giving back to the community. Additional years of competition gained due to COVID allowed the Madrid, Spain native to complete his undergraduate and master's degrees in Software Engineering and pursue a doctorate degree. After compiling a 3.78 GPA as an undergrad and a perfect 4.0 in the master's program, Ortiz Couder finished his eligibility with a 4.0 in pursuit of his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
 
In addition to being named the 2021-22 SSC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Ortiz Couder was named to the Sunshine State Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll and ITA Scholar-Athlete rosters seven times each. He was a two-time Eagles of Excellence scholarship recipient and was awarded the 2017-18 Steve & Vicky Ridder scholarship. He was also named ERAU's Undergraduate Student of the Year in Software Engineering in 2019 and was the program's Graduate Student of the Year in 2021.
 
Ortiz Couder has also been active on campus and in the community. On campus, he was involved with the ERAU Tech Eagles, was the men's tennis representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, helped with campus showcases for prospective students and participated in campus clean-up activities. He was also the men's tennis team's Team Impact liaison, and volunteered with the Halifax Humane Society, hurricane preparation and clean-up, and a variety of tennis clinics for children, as well as Food Brings Hope and the Marine Science Center.
 
On the court, Ortiz Couder graduated as the most decorated student-athlete in ERAU men's tennis' NCAA II era. He finished the 2022 season ranked No. 5 nationally in singles play with a 21-5 ledger. In doubles, he was 19-9 overall and held the distinction of featuring in the national rankings twice with two different partners. He teamed up with Andres Donayre for a 10-3 ledger at the top doubles position and a No. 11 national ranking, while his partnership with Luke Paschal yielded a 6-3 record and a ranking of No. 38.

"What an incredible award!" Embry-Riddle Head Tennis Coach Dave Paschal stated. "The tennis programs have won many awards, but I would say this is the top achievement of them all. It is an award well deserved and earned by Juan "Juancho" Ortiz Couder.  It was such a privilege to be his coach; he epitomized the ERAU Athletics philosophy of developing oneself into "The Package – Student/Person/Player". Juancho excelled at all of them, and did so to the highest degree. Due to some extenuating circumstances, Juancho got to play for seven years. What a blessing and benefit to our tennis program and myself to have him that long."