After a busy day of action at the ITA Intercollegiate Indoor Championships cut the field in half, two of the three UF entrants are still standing.
Allie Will and the doubles team of Alex Lacroix and Antoine Benneteau won their opening round matches at the second leg of the collegiate tennis grand slam in New Haven, Conn., and will continue their quests for titles today.
Will, the No. 6 seed, got the action started with a 6-3, 6-1 win over hometown favorite Jessie Rhee of Yale.
"Her forehand had good speed on it and she took a little bit more risk, which is important indoors, so I thought her first match was great," UF women's coach Roland Thornqvist said.
As important as Will's forehand was, she also mixed in a solid backhand and a dominant net game to take control of the contest.
Her next match will be against Pichittra Thongdach of Boise State, over whom Will earned a 6-3, 6-3 victory earlier in the season.
"We learned a little bit about her style of play and what she likes to do so I have a decent idea of what the match is going to look like," Thornqvist said.
In men's action, the team of Lacroix and Benneteau advanced with a 9-8 (2) win over Oleksandr Nedovyesov and Aleksey Bessonov of Oklahoma State, the tournament's second-seeded team.
Getting a win over such a talented pair of opponents is expected to do wonders for Lacroix and Benneteau's confidence.
"(Lacroix and Benneteau) were down early but they fought back and got the best win of their career in doubles," men's coach Andy Jackson said.
Even with the No. 2 team out of the way, things are not expected to get much easier today when they face off against Boris Conkic and Rhyne Williams of Tennessee.
"One of the boys won the All-American in doubles with a different partner and the other is one of the top freshman in the country, so it'll be a tough match but that's what you'd expect in the quarterfinals of a national championship," Jackson said.
In men's singles action, Lacroix lost a 6-3, 6-2 contest to Wisconsin's Marek Michalicka.
"Alex was on edge and a little off, but credit goes to (Michalicka) who played a good match," Jackson said.
