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Monday, November 25, 2024

Lauren Embree keeps advancing in the NCAA Singles Tournament. She

keeps playing better players as she inches closer to another

championship, and she’s still undefeated.

Despite the emotional high of willing the UF women’s tennis team to

a national championship just four days ago, Embree has put together

a fantastic singles run to advance to the semifinals of the

individual tournament.

Saturday, she beat No. 23 Mari Andersson in straight sets, becoming

the first Gator to reach the NCAA Singles semifinals since

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2005.

“Lauren is really tough,” coach Roland Thornqvist said. “She’s very

mentally solid and she’s had a good attitude every match here. When

you get to this stage, the margin is so small you have to be

mentally sharp with your skills as well as your mind and take

advantage of every opportunity that presents itself.”

Embree’s record moved to 28-0 on the year, and the sophomore will

face Stanford’s Nicole Gibbs in the semifinal. Gibbs is ranked No.

18 in the country while Embree is ranked No. 17.

Gibbs has faced her share of Gators this year, beating junior

Joanna Mather in February at the ITA Indoor Championships and

topping freshman Sofie Oyen in the NCAA Final just four days

ago.

Florida’s best doubles team of Allie Will and Alex Cercone came up

just short in the NCAA Doubles Tournament quarterfinals Saturday,

falling in straight sets to Clemson’s pair of Josipa Bek and Keri

Wong.

Will and Cercone beat Bek and Wong on May 20 in the Gators’ NCAA

Round of 16 dual match, but didn’t have the right chemistry to

advance to the semifinals.

“They didn’t communicate as well as they should have in the

quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships,” Thornqvist said. “I’m

sure they’re disappointed and they should be. They did lose,

however, to one of the best teams in the country.”

Will and Cercone ended their season with their first loss as

doubles partners. The duo finished 14-1 in their first year playing

together.

“Alex and Allie have superseded all of my expectations this year,”

Thornqvist said. “There’s no shame in losing to [Bek and Wong], but

I’m sure we’re a little disappointed that we didn’t play as well as

we could today.”

MEN’S

Florida’s Alexandre Lacroix and Sekou Bangoura Jr. will play at

least one more match together.

The

Gators’ impressive doubles pairing continued their strong year

together, beating Louisville’s Austen Childs and Viktor Maksimcuk

in straight sets in Saturday’s NCAA Doubles Tournament

quarterfinals.

“They played their best match of the year today, so that’s very

exciting in the quarters of the NCAA,” coach Andy Jackson said.

“[Assistant coach] Jeremy Bayon has worked extremely hard with

them, and I’m proud of all three of those guys because they’ve got

a real chance in this tournament.”

Lacroix and Bangoura will face a huge challenge in Sunday’s

quarterfinals against Stanford’s Bradley Klahn and Ryan

Thacher.

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