Senior Joaquim Almeida (right) from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and freshman Siwanat Auytayakul (left) from Bangkok, Thailand, made Flames Tennis history in November when they became the first doubles duo to compete at the NCAA Men’s Tennis Individual Championships in Waco, Texas, and the first Liberty players to win a round at nationals.
They beat California’s No. 25 duo of Carl Emil Overbeck and Theo Dean before falling in the second round to Florida State’s No. 41 team of Alex Bulte and Youcef Rihane.
Only two other Flames, Nicaise Muamba (in 2019) and Sam Matheson (2016), have ever qualified for the NCAA Individual Championships; they qualified for the singles championship but were unable to earn a victory.
Almeida and Auytayakul went 5-0 at the ITA Atlantic Regional in Norfolk, Va., to earn the title and automatic bid to the NCAA Individual Championships. They posted an 8-3 record playing together in the fall.
