Michael Alford and Caroline Hitimana won their respective consolation singles titles last weekend, capping a solid trip to start the spring season for the men’s and women’s tennis teams.
With the No. 8 men competing at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in Lexington, Ky., and the No. 1 women at the Freeman Memorial Championships in Las Vegas, several Gators turned in impressive performances to end their weekend on a high note.
In Las Vegas, the Gators sent three women to face some stiff competition, as the top five teams in the country, including Florida, were in action during the weekend.
Hitimana, Alex Cercone, and Olivia Janowicz made the trip with Hitimana winning the consolation singles title over Duke’s Ester Goldfeld in three sets.
The Belgian junior won the match 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (10-4) and captured her second career singles title. Hitimana’s previous title came in the 2010 SEC Coaches Fall Classic.
Hitimana won the remainder of her matches after losing her opening match to Southern California’s Sabrina Santamaria, the nation’s 18th-ranked player.
Alford, a sophomore from Tampa, bounced back from an opening-round loss to reach the consolation singles final, where he defeated South Carolina’s Kyle Koch 6-3, 7-6.
After posting an 8-3 in singles play during the fall, Alford shook off a loss to Georgia’s KU Singh in the opening round. After that, Alford found his stroke and won his next five matches, two coming in straight sets.
Several other Gators also had good weekends, as Florida’s doubles team of Andrew Butz and Bob van Overbeek played a strong tournament, reaching the semifinals before being eliminated by Georgia’s team of Wil Spencer and Garrett Brasseaux.
The women’s doubles team of Cercone and Janowicz made it to the quarterfinals of its draw, where the duo was defeated by Southern California’s Santamaria and Kaitlyn Christian, the No. 3 tandem in the country.
The tournament also marked the first match and win of Florent Diep’s Gators career.
The sophomore transferred mid-year from France and played his first collegiate match on the tournament’s opening day. He defeated Koch, who would later fall in the consolation finals to Alford in straight sets.
With the tournaments completed, attention will now shift to the teams’ first dual matches of the season.
The men will travel to Waco, Texas, to take on No. 5 Baylor on Jan. 22. The women will be in action three days later as they play host to Troy. That match will begin at 3 p.m. at Linder Stadium.
Senior Carolina Hitimana clinched Florida's 4-2 victory against California on Sunday at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana, Ill.
