TULSA, Okla. – Juniors Clement Marzol and Loic Cloes each moved on to the main draw of the Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., Tuesday (Oct. 2) after advancing past the qualification round. Marzol notched a pair of victories over top-75 opponents to advance the main draw, while despite a loss in the third round, Cloes advances due to another player having to pull out due to injury. This is the first time since Jack Baker in 2007 that the Jaguar men have had a singles player advance to the main draw.
 
Second-Round Qualification Singles
No. 122 Marzol faced off against Tulsa's No. 55 Joshua Goodger. In the first set, Marzol notched a break, but Goodger broke him back twice to take the set 6-3.
 
Marzol was cruising in the second set up 5-3 and serving for the set. Goodger broke Marol and held serve to tie the match at 5-5. Marzol didn't panic holding serve and breaking the Hurrican in the final point of the game to seal the set at 7-5.
 
In the third set, Marzol broke Goodger to take a 2-0 lead and each player held their serve resulting in Marzol taking the set and match with a 6-3 score in the final stanza.
 
No. 83 Cloes faced LSU's Malik Bhatnagar in his second-round matchup. Cloes was up 5-3 and serving for the set when Bhatnagar broke his serve. The two athletes battled back and forth with each holding serve until Cloes broke the Tiger to take opening set 7-5.
 
Cloes dominated the second set 6-2, finishing it out with a breakpoint to take the match and advance to the third round.
 
Third-Round Qualification Singles
Marzol's third-round matchup was against No. 71 Igor Saveljic of NC State. Each held serve in the opening set until there were three straight breakpoints with Marzol taking two of them and held a 5-3 lead. The junior Jag held serve and took the first set 6-3.
 
Marzol dominated the second set by breaking Saveljic twice and jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Saveljic broke Marzol tobring the score to 4-2, but Marzol broke his serve on the next point and served out the match to advance to the main draw with a 6-2 score in the second set.
 
Cloes matched up with Texas A&M's Barnaby Smith in the third-round. The two athletes battled it out as each up held serve through the first set to a tiebreak. Cloes earned a breakpoint early in the tiebreak, but Smith took the opening set 7-6 (7-3). Smith broke Cloes early in the second set and on to take the match with a score of 6-2 in the final set.

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Nick Brochu
On the day: "I'm so proud of those two guys. They keep pushing themselves. To get better and better every day. And it's paying off now. Clem and Loic qualifying for the main draw is huge. The last Jag to qualify was Jack baker in 2007. We will recover tomorrow and get ready for the main draw. Both players are excited to be seeded in main draw doubles. And expect to go deep in the tournament."
 
On Marzol's day: "It was a very long and successful day for our two Jags. Clem started with a great win against a difficult player. His opponent was a big shot maker and didn't give Clem any rhythm. He came up with big shots on big points to take the first set away from Clement. But Clem stayed focused like yesterday and kept fighting every point until his opponent became hieratic. In the third set, Clem was too solid from the baseline and closed the match. He played a similar opponent in his second match. His opponent had a lot of firepower, but Clement was able to neutralize everything and stayed solid until the end."
 
On Cloes: "Loic had a rough day. He played very good this morning and had to work really hard every point. He faced very long rallies, but came up on top. Unfortunately, Loic had a full body cramp after his morning match. With only two hours to recover, he fought to the best of his abilities in the last round of qualification., but his body was running out of juice. We needed that first set, but it slipped through his fingers 7-6. He kept fighting like a champion, but his legs were not the same."
 
UP NEXT
Cloes and Marzol will both play in the main draw singles and doubles on Thursday (Oct. 4).
 
—USA—