Embry-Riddle’s Diaz Rodrigo Earns SSC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Honors
ORLANDO, Fla. – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University tennis standout Alvaro Diaz Rodrigo has been named the Sunshine State Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. A graduate student in Aerospace Engineering, Diaz Rodrigo maintains a perfect 4.00 GPA, building on an impressive 3.89 GPA from his undergraduate studies.
The Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is voted on by Athletic Directors, Senior Woman Administrators, Athletic Communication Directors, and Faculty Athletic Representatives from each of the 11 SSC member institutions.
Diaz Rodrigo has been named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team two times and earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors three times. He’s a four-time selection to the SSC Commissioner’s Honor Roll, a three-time recipient of the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award, and has appeared on the Embry-Riddle Dean’s List 10 times. His academic excellence has also been recognized through several prestigious scholarships, including the Eagles of Excellence Scholarship, the Wallenborn Scholarship, the Embry-Riddle Student-Athlete Transformational Scholarship, and multiple awards from the Rudy Knabe and Jim Henderson endowed funds.
Diaz Rodrigo went 12-5 this spring with a 5-2 record in the conference at the #4 singles position. The senior collected his third All-SSC honor in 2025 with a Second Team Singles selection from conference coaches. Previously, he was named First Team Singles in 2024 and Honorable Mention Doubles in 2021. The Eagle rounds out his impressive career with 82 singles victories and 76 doubles wins.
Beyond the court, Diaz Rodrigo made meaningful contributions to the Embry-Riddle and Daytona Beach communities through various service and leadership roles. He volunteered at organizations such as the Great Kids Learning Center, Our Lady of Hope Food Distribution, and the Sugar Mill Botanical Gardens. He participated in events like Mutt Strut and campus cleanups. He also served as a court monitor for the Derbyshire Community Tennis Junior Tournament and represented his peers as a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member from 2023 to 2025. On campus, he supported fellow students as a MATLAB teaching assistant and contributed to aerospace research by designing, building, and testing a five-degree-of-freedom robot for spacecraft navigation experiments.
Diaz Rodrigo is the third Embry-Riddle Eagle to win the SSC’s top academic award, joining Elijah Jenkins (basketball) in 2020-21 and Juan Ortiz Couder (tennis) in 2021-22. He becomes the seventh men’s tennis athlete recognized since conference administrators established the award in 1995-96.
Complete Listing: SSC Scholar-Athletes of the Year