Hump day was not a good one for most of the Gators tennis players.
In the first round of the NCAA singles tournament in College Station, Texas, three UF players lost in straight sets, but one held firm to advance.
No. 33 Alex Lacroix was the first to fall, losing to Pepperdine's Omar Altmann. The No. 44 player beat the UF sophomore 6-3, 6-4. Lacroix went into the tournament with a 20-7 spring record with nine of his wins coming against ranked opponents.
Freshman Carlos Cueto dropped back-to-back sets to No. 3 Bryan Koniecko. Cueto faced a tough draw going against the highly-ranked Buckeye in a 6-3, 6-2 loss.
Koniecko's Ohio State was defeated Tuesday in a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of USC in the finals of the team tournament, so it was a rebound match for the senior.
"The season is over with for the team, so you have to focus on yourself for a little bit for the one week that you are here and play your own game," Koniecko said after his win.
On the women's side, No. 40 Anastasia Revzina fell to California's Marina Cossou. The No. 26-ranked sophomore, whose team was swept in Tuesday's national championship 4-0 by Duke, defeated the Gators junior 6-2, 6-3.
No. 8 Marrit Boonstra also played a Golden Bear in Bojana Bobusic. The junior leader of the women's squad took the No. 32 player deep into a third set before closing it out in a tiebreaker 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.
In Thursday's second round, Boonstra takes on Christy Striplin of Georgia Tech, who defeated Northwestern's Samantha Murray 6-4, 6-4.
DOUBLES TEAMS BEGIN PLAY: Though the teams' seasons are over and singles didn't go quite their way, the Gators are still represented in the doubles draws beginning today in College Station.
The No. 16 tandem of Antoine Benneteau and Joey Burkhardt are scheduled to face Texas A&M's Austin Krajicek and Conor Pollock, who defeated the UF duo 8-4 en route to a 6-1 Gators victory in a heated battle on Jan. 31.
Boonstra and Jo Mather, who have played as a unit since the seventh match of the season, put together a 15-5 record and are ranked No. 18. The pair will play North Carolina's Sophie Grabinski and Sanaz Marand. The Tar Heels handed the Gators their first heartbreaking loss of the season on Valentine's Day, but Grabiniski and Marand faced Boonstra and then-partner Megan Alexander, who played her second-to-last match of the season that day.
Revzina and Jessica Alexander will trade volleys with Texas Christian's Macall Harkins and Anna Sydorska. The No. 18 pairing of Revzina and Alexander has been solid all season, finishing with a 19-4 record.
