Rafael Jódar Named ACC Freshman of the Year

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia men’s tennis player Rafael Jódar has been named the ACC Men’s Tennis Freshman of the Year in honors announced Thursday (April 24) by the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Jódar was also voted to the All-ACC First Team in singles, with sophomore Dylan Dietrich making the second team.

Jódar has been ranked as high as No. 4 in the ITA singles rankings, tallying a dozen victories over ranked players since joining the team in January. Jódar was edged in his collegiate debut match on January 16, but did not lose another regular-season singles match. He was a four-time ACC Freshman of the Week.

Dietrich, the 2024 ACC Freshman of the Year, qualified for the NCAA Singles Championship for the second straight year. He has reached a career-high No. 21 singles ranking, posting a 22-8 record. He was a two-time ACC Player of the Week this season. This is his second straight year being voted to the second team.

Jódar is the eighth player in program history to earn the conference’s rookie award, joining Brian Vahaly (1998), Doug Stewart (2003), Somdev Devvarman (2005), Alex Domijan (2011), Mitchell Frank (2012), Brandon Nakashima (2019) and Dietrich (2024).

All-ACC honors are determined by a vote of the league’s head coaches.

2024-25 ACC Men’s Tennis Annual Awards
Player of the Year: Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame
Freshman of the Year: Rafael Jódar, Virginia
Coach of the Year: Tony Bresky, Wake Forest 

All-ACC Singles
First Team
Carl Emil Overbeck, Sr., California
Corey Craig, Jr., Florida State
Sebastian Dominko, Jr., Notre Dame ***
Samir Banerjee, Jr., Stanford
Rafael Jódar, Fr., Virginia
DK Suresh Ekambaram, Jr., Wake Forest ** 

Second Team
Pedro Rodenas, Jr., Duke ***
Jamie Connel, Sr., Florida State **
Martin Katz, Sr., Miami
Braden Shick, Sr., NC State **
Dylan Dietrich, So., Virginia **
Stefan Dostanic, Gr., Wake Forest

Third Team
Noa Vukadin, So., Clemson
Cooper Williams, So., Duke
Martin Borisiouk, Jr., NC State
Luca Staeheli, Sr., NC State ***
Trevor Svajda, So., SMU
Max Basing, Sr., Stanford

All-ACC Doubles
First Team
Theo Winegar & Cooper Williams, Duke
Braden Shick & Fons Van Sambeek, NC State
DK Suresh Ekambaram & Charlie Robertson, Wake Forest

Second Team
Noa Vukadin & Max Smith, Clemson
Alex Bulte & Youcef Rihane, Florida State
Sebastian Dominko & Chase Thompson, Notre Dame

Third Team
Carl Emil Overbeck & Theo Dean, California
Nate Bonetto & Gianluca Carlini, Georgia Tech
Luciano Tacchi & Luca Pow, Wake Forest 

*Denotes number of career All-ACC honors (singles)