If senior Alexandre Lacroix continues to play the way he did this weekend, he will certainly shoot up the singles rankings come January.
No. 9 Lacroix capped off a nearly flawless performance by capturing the Napa Valley Classic championship Sunday, earning a United States Tennis Association wild card in one of its future events.
Lacroix and sophomore Sekou Bangoura Jr. were two of the eight finalists who played in the 10-point tiebreak knockout tournament for the championship.
In the quarterfinals, Bangoura fell to No. 26 Dennis Nevolo of Illinois (12-10).
Lacroix put on a strong performance in the quarterfinals, defeating Nick Andrews of California (10-3).
His victory in the semifinals came against No. 32 Alex Musialek (10-6).
In the finals, Lacroix squared off against Kentucky’s Eric Quigley, who is ranked one spot higher by the USTA. Lacroix earned a 10-6 victory, emerging as the tournament’s champion.
Coach Andy Jackson was pleased with the senior’s showing, especially considering the elite level of competition in the tournament.
“This is a very prestigious tournament,” Jackson said. “Alex was fantastic out there.”
SATURDAY DAY 2
The Napa Valley Classic proved to be more kind to the Gators on Saturday than the Southern Intercollegiate Classic in Athens, Ga., did.
Playing in St. Helena, Calif., Lacroix proved why he is a top-10 player with a second straight-sets win in the tournament’s first two days, defeating Illinois’ Johnny Hamui (6-2, 6-2).
Bangoura Jr. notched another three-set victory, downing No. 65 Jaak Poldma of USC (4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3)).
Bob van Overbeek was unable to complete the sweep on day two, as Vasko Mladenov of Texas earned a win over the sophomore (7-6(4), 6-1).
But in Athens, the Gators went 0-3, as freshmen Michael Alford and Andrew Butz lost in singles and doubles action.
Competing in the second round, Butz lost to Sadio Doumbia of Georiga (7-6(5), 6-4) while Alford fell to No. 53 Wael Kilani of South Florida (6-2, 6-3).
The pair also failed to pick up a win in the doubles Round of 16, losing to Alabama’s duo of Michael Thompson and Ian Chadwell (8-4).
Despite the final results, coach Andy Jackson said the freshmen played well considering they were matched up against more experienced players.
“We’re not expecting those guys to play one or two or three for us,” Jackson said. “But I think pretty quickly they’ll be competitive among the number one players.”
Jackson also commended sophomore Billy Federhofer, who played with the flu, for his gritty performance in his loss to Georgia Southern's Juan Melian Puigentos (6-7, 7-5, 6-4) on Friday.
“Billy lost in three sets to a pretty good player,” Jackson said. “He showed quite a bit of toughness.”
