Courtesy of Bob Heller, USP SID

PHILADELPHIA - University of the Sciences in Philadelphia junior Ricardo Martins (Colegio Pentagono/Sao Paulo, Brazil) and sophomore Francisco Garcia (Don Cesar Gascon/Balcarce Buenos Aires, Argentina) have been named to the 2008-09 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Men's Tennis Team.

Martins and Garcia are amongst the seven student-athletes selected to the team. The team was voted on by the sports information offices of the 28 area institutions from the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

Garcia, a transfer from Division I Belmont University, earned all-conference honors this season and was also named to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) spring All-Academic team.  A computer science major, Francisco has a 3.90 cumulative grade point average. Playing primarily at the #1 singles and doubles positions, Garcia won nine singles and nine doubles contests and led the Devils to an 11-7 overall record, a runner-up finish in the CACC Championships and an at-large berth in the NCAA championships.

Martins, a recent CACC Spring All-Academic Team honoree, has a 3.5 overall grade point average as a physical therapy major.  Ricardo has earned Dean's List honors four times.
A junior in his third season with USP, Martins missed part of this season due to injury but finished strong, recording seven singles and six doubles wins primarily at #2 singles and #2 doubles.  Ricardo has an overall career mark of 57-24 (70.3%) in singles and doubles competition over the past three seasons.  USP has a 31-11 record in that same time frame.

Joining Martins and Garcia on the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Men's Tennis Team are La Salle's Chris Butera, Philadelphia's Tom McAvoy, Lincoln's Adedotun Osho, Temple's Nathan Spunda and Phil Bayliss of St. Joseph's.  Bayliss was the 2009 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Men's Tennis Performer of the Year