May 20, 2010

LAS VEGAS - Luca Barlocchi has become the first UNLV tennis player ever to earn CoSIDA academic honors twice in a career as he was a member of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 8 At-Large First Team, the organization announced Thursday.

Barlocchi, out of Zurich, Switzerland, boasted a cumulative grade point average of 3.86 while majoring in finance. The senior was named All-Mountain West Conference in both singles and doubles this season. He earned his first national ranking while posting a 19-14 record in singles and finishing ninth on the school's career victory list with 76. He also went 22-13 in doubles, primarily playing with partner Mehdi Bouras.

A first team winner this season, Barlocchi will move forward to the national ballot for voting later this month. He was a member of the second team in 2009.

The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) selects Academic All-America teams in 12 programs throughout the year. Players who are starters or important reserves on their teams and are at least in their second year at a school and hold at least a 3.30 career GPA are eligible for the academic awards, which are voted on by sports information directors from across the nation.

UNLV's district includes four-year institutions from the states of California, Arizona, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Idaho and Nevada.