McCartney Kessler and Ida Jarlskog needed just one more win to reach the doubles qualifying rounds of the ITA All-American Championships. They had already defeated Texas’ Marta Perez-Mur and Tijana Spasojevic earlier in the day, and were eight games away from escaping the pre-qualifying rounds.
The duo, however, came up short against Oklahoma’s Ivana Corley and Jasmine Asghar, 8-6, bringing Jarlskog and Kessler’s doubles run to an end.
The sophomore tandem began the day with an 8-6 win against Perez-Mur and Spasojevic. Jarlskog and Kessler fell behind 2-0 early in the match before bringing the match back to a 4-4 tie. UF’s pair took over in the second half of the match to earn the win and move on to the finals of the pre-qualifying round, from which only four doubles teams advance to the qualifying rounds.
The duo’s second match against Corley and Asghar was a close, back-and-forth affair. Kessler and Jarlskog took an early 3-1 lead, but the teams continued to trade games. They faced elimination with a 7-5 deficit before winning another game. Their run in the tournament ended, however, as they dropped the next game to lose 8-6.
Kessler and Jarlskog were the first of two UF doubles teams at the tournament. Victoria Emma and Tsveta Dimitrova had already qualified for the doubles qualifying round. All four are also in the qualifying draw for singles.
Follow Brendan Farrell on Twitter @Bfarrell727 and contact him at bfarrell@alligator.org.
Sophomore McCartney Kessler defeated UC Santa Barbara's Elizaveta Volodko in straight sets (6-1, 7-5) during the Gators' ITA Kickoff Weekend Saturday.
