AT FRESNO STATE (2001-03): Was a late addition to the Horned Frogs’ squad for the spring after playing two seasons at Fresno State…Is known as a big hitter and possesses a very powerful serve…Entered the fall 2003 rankings at No. 76 in singles and No. 6 in doubles with Sergiu Modoc…Went 2-2 in singles last fall and 3-1 in doubles…Finished with an overall singles ledger of 23-13 during the 2002-03 campaign…Was 14-10 in dual matches, playing every contest at No. 1 singles…Played doubles primarily with Modoc and went 15-6 with him…The duo was 14-5 at one doubles…Had a great deal of success in doubles with Stefan Suta as well, going 7-2 with the Pepperdine transfer…Made it to the semifinals in doubles at the Omni Hotels Northwest Regionals with Suta during the fall season…Overall, he had a record of 23-8 in doubles…Almada and Modoc earned a berth in the NCAA Doubles Championship and lost in the first round to the tourney’s No. 2-seeded team of Oliver Maiberger and Ryan Redondo of San Diego State, 6-3, 6-4…Maiberger and Redondo went on to advance to the title match…Ended the season rated No. 20 with Modoc…Established himself as a legitimate No. 1 singles player toward the end of his first year with Fresno State, winning seven of his last eight…The lone loss came against Al Garland of Pepperdine, who was the nation’s top-ranked player at the time, in three sets…Almada had a match point in that contest…Finished the year with a 14-9 record, including a 13-7 mark in dual matches…He was the only Bulldog to have a winning percentage above .500 in duals…Opened the dual match season impressively with a straight-sets victory over Prakash Armitraj of Southern California for Fresno State’s only point in the match…Recorded a slate of 7-7 in doubles…Advanced to the semifinals of the Wathen/Hancock Bulldog Classic with Alex Krohn…Also teamed with Krohn to reach the semifinals of doubles at the Omni Hotels Regionals.
AT FRESNO CITY COLLEGE (2000-01): Played for Fresno City College in 2000-01 and compiled a singles record of 35-3…Was ranked No. 1 in the Northern California Junior College rankings and No. 2 in the state.
PERSONAL: Almada is a business major at TCU…Has one sister, Ana, and a brother, Juan…Besides tennis, Alamada enjoys playing basketball and soccer and listening to music…Says his favorite athlete is Michael Jordan…Has a great deal of admiration for his father, stating that he is the “perfect model of a man”…Hector Ivan Almada Acosta, the son of Hector Almada and Amada Acosta, was born Nov. 22, 1981.
