BILLINGS, Mont. – Senior Rikki Peach and sophomore Navin Marimuthu continued to add to their postseason accolades as both were named to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Academic All-Conference first team, the conference office announced.
Peach, a native of Billings, was one of seven players named to the first team. She has a 3.56 cumulative grade point average in English, and this is her first selection to the team.
On the court, she earned second team all-conference honors this season and was a second team all-conference selection in 2010. Peach finished the year with an 8-7 record at No. 2 singles and 3-3 in conference play, and was 11-7 overall in singles.
Marimuthu, a native of Chennai, India, was one of four unanimous selections to the first team academic all-conference. He carries a 3.39 GPA in business administration with an accounting emphasis.
This season, Marimuthu went 9-3 this season at No. 1 singles against four year schools, including an impressive 5-1 in RMAC play earning first team all-conference honors. His only conference loss was to Emmanuel Mensah of Western New Mexico who went undefeated in conference play earning RMAC Player of the Year honors. Marimuthu went 12-3 overall at No. 1 singles as the Jackets played Glendale, Mesa and Scottsdale Community Colleges in Phoenix, Ariz., the first week of the season.
He helped lead the Jackets to a 10-9 record overall and a 4-2 mark in the RMAC, which was good for third. The Yellowjackets went on to a run in the conference tournament, reaching the tournament championship match. Marimuthu was a first team all-conference singles selection last year and earned RMAC Freshman of the Year honors.
He, along with freshman Kavindu Gamage, earned second team all-conference honors in doubles this season. They went 5-6 and 3-3 in conference matches at No. 1 doubles. They were 7-7 overall.
Marimuthu and the Yellowjackets open their first NCAA Tournament appearance Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. central time at the University of Nebraska Kearney. The winner will advance to the NCAA Championship, May 11-14 at the Sanlando Tennis Complex in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
