After a solid showing Tuesday, Florida’s duo of Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Billy Federhofer lost in the final round of doubles qualifying at the ITA All-American in Tulsa, Okla.
The sophomores picked up two wins while playing together for the first time, but lost their match against California’s Nick Andrews and Jonathan Dahan (8-6) on Wednesday.
Despite the loss, coach Andy Jackson was encouraged by their performances.
“They were very impressive for their first time together,” Jackson said. “They haven’t even practiced together as a team.”
While Jackson described Bangoura as “one of the best doubles players in college,” he said Federhofer held his own despite his inexperience.
“It opened my eyes to the level that Billy can play in doubles,” Jackson said.
The pair still needs work, though Jackson said they got down early and played well to get back even, but the duo played too conservative at the end of the match.
The last leg of the tournament begins Thursday, as senior Alexandre Lacroix will compete in the singles main draw and team with junior Nassim Slilam in doubles.
Jackson said the No. 9 Lacroix has a realistic shot at winning the singles championship.
However, he said playing in the main draw is tough because players have to win twice Thursday to move on to the next round.
“It will be a shocking start to the tournament,” Jackson said. “Seventy-five percent of the guys will be out by [Thursday] night.”
Lacroix also has to deal with the demand of playing in doubles, something that requires good conditioning and focus.
Jackson thinks it would be a long shot for Lacroix to win both the singles and doubles championships, but it wouldn’t be the first time one of Jackson’s players has won both.
While coaching at Mississippi State in 1992-1993, one of Jackson’s players, Daniel Courcol, was the singles champion in the ITA National Clay Court and All-American Hardcourt Championships, and the doubles champion in the All-American Championships and ITA National Indoor.
Lacroix hasn’t dominated college tennis to that degree, but he can still develop his doubles game and put on a good showing, Jackson said.
“It’s not like he’s the Gators football team of last year where anything but undefeated is unacceptable,” he said.
Three women advance: Three Gators moved on to the final qualifying round of the ITA All-American in Pacific Palisades, Calif., after winning their second round matches Wednesday.
The team’s two freshmen, Sofie Oyen and Alexandra Cercone, continued their strong play on a big stage.
Oyen defeated Krista Damico of Texas (6-1, 6-2), and will take on Sanaa Bhambri of North Carolina State Thursday morning.
Cercone also impressed, defeating No. 71 Morgan Frank of Texas A&M (6-3, 6-2). She is scheduled to play Stanford’s No. 21 Mallory Burdette.
Sophomore Caroline Hitimana battled for three sets against a tough opponent in No. 32 Micaela Hein of Arizona State, before picking up the win (2-6, 7-6(5), 6-1).
The Gators’ lone loss of the day came when Joanna Mather fell to No. 25 Reka Zsilinska of Duke (6-2, 6-3).
The eight winners in the final round will compete in the main draw, which begins Friday.
Sophomore Allie Will is the only Gator currently slotted in the main draw.
