Florida men’s tennis duo Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) and Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) scored a straight-sets quarterfinal win over Louisville’s Austen Childs and Viktor Maksimcuk, 6-3, 6-2, on Saturday to reach the semifinals of the NCAA doubles championship at Stanford University’s Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif.
“They played their best match of the year today, so that’s very exciting in the quarters of the NCAA,” said Florida head coach Andy Jackson. “[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.”
Florida fell behind early in the first set, but rallied to get back on serve before breaking for a 5-3 lead, followed by a hold to take the first, 6-3. The second set opened with three straight breaks that put the Gators in the drivers’ seat, up a break with a 2-1 advantage. UF broke the Cardinals’ serve again to go up 5-2 and served out the match.
Bangoura and Lacroix are slated to face either Stanford’s Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher or Florida State’s Vahid Mirzadeh and Connor Smith in Sunday’s semifinal. However, the Stanford-Florida State quarterfinal went into a rain delay at approximately 8:15 p.m. EDT with FSU leading, 7-6, 1-2.
Lacroix’s UF career records for doubles victories and overall wins are now at 104 and 214, respectively.
NCAA Doubles Championship
Taube Tennis Center
Stanford, Calif.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Quarterfinals
#17 Bangoura/Lacroix (UF) def. #18 Childs/Maksimcuk (Louisville) 6-3, 6-2
