The Florida men’s tennis pair of senior Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) and sophomore Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA doubles championship with a 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 defeat of LSU’s Sebastian Carlsson and Neal Skupski in the Round of 16 at Stanford University’s Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif., on Friday.
“We got off to a quick start, served well from beginning and were able to take the first set quickly,” said Bangoura. “They raised their level after that and served much better, and we weren’t getting as many free points. Then they had a return game where made everything to win the second. It was the same pattern in the third. Both teams were serving pretty well, and we just had one of those games where we connected with all the returns and kept the momentum to close it out.”
The tightly-contested second set went the Tigers’ way with a break of Bangoura’s service game at 5-6. The third set proceeded similarly, playing on serve until Florida broke serve at 5-5 in the deciding frame to set up an opportunity for Bangoura to serve out the match for the Florida pair. Lacroix and Bangoura left no doubt, holding at love to advance.
“We played really well in the first set, but at the end of the second and third sets, it was really close,” Lacroix said. “We came out with that break at 5-all in the third and held on.”
The win also earns All-American doubles status for the pair, by virtue of reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA championship. It marks the second consecutive year that Lacroix has been a doubles All-American and adds to his 2010 and 2011 singles honors. The senior Frenchman becomes the fifth player in UF history to achieve four or more All-American honors. The pair’s achievement marks Bangoura’s first career All-American recognition.
“It’s a really good feeling,” Lacroix said. “I’m really proud of that.”
Florida’s duo will continue play on Saturday against Louisville’s Austen Childs and Viktor Maksimcuk, who posted a straight-sets win over Ohio State’s Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola on Friday.
NCAA Doubles Championship
Taube Tennis Center
Stanford, Calif.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Round of 16
#17 Bangoura/Lacroix (UF) def. #8 Carlsson/Skupski (LSU) 6-2, 5-7, 7-5
