AUBURN, Ala. – Joaquim Almeida and Braden Hannig teamed up to make a deep run to the doubles semifinals as South Alabama wrapped up competition at the ITA Regionals Monday.
 
Almeida and Hannig knocked off teams from LSU (8-6) and Mississippi State (8-6) en route to the semifinal round where they fell just short to Ole Miss.
 
"What a great tournament. I'm very, very proud of the guys," said head coach Nick Brochu. This was a very hard tournament because it's all the best teams from the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. It's a very strong tournament. We had some very big matches with some big results. The Jags showed up to play doubles at this tournament. We had three teams going deep into the tournament. I'm very impressed and very proud. The Jags had an amazing showing in singles and doubles, so that's very promising for the rest of the fall."
 
Almeida and Hannig were not the only doubles team to show up big at ITA's for South as Jack Clements and Rostislav Halfinger teamed up to make a run to the quarterfinals before running into the same Ole Miss team as Almeida and Hannig. Clements and Halfinger defeated duos from Tulane (6-4), Mississippi State (8-4) and Alabama A&M (8-5) for three big wins and an appearance in the quarterfinal round.
 
Juan Accossatto and Javier Montoya also got in on the doubles fun with a pair of wins to get themselves into the Round of 16. The pair defeated teams from Jacksonville State (6-4) and Southern Miss (8-6) before dropping a tightly-contested match to UAB.
 
In singles, South was represented by three players in the main tournament draw. Clements, Montoya and Almeida all played strong, opening-round matches with narrow defeats. Clements and Montoya both took the opening set off their opponents and Almeida narrowly dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision.
 
In the qualifying rounds, Almeida and Montoya both showed major representation for the Jaguars, each advancing as far as they could go. Almeida first defeated an Alabama A&M opponent 6-1, 6-3 before knocking off a UAB foe 6-0, 6-2. His final match of the draw came against a Sun Belt rival in Troy where he secured a 6-3, 4-6 (10-6) victory. Montoya opened the draw with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over a New Orleans opponent before advancing to defeat a player from Samford, 6-2, 6-3. Montoya also knocked off a Sun Belt foe in his final qualifying round, with a 6-4, 6-1 performance over a player from Louisiana.
 
Hannig, Accossatto and Halfinger all picked up victories in their opening rounds of qualifying play with Hanning leading off with a 3-6, 6-2 (10-6) win over his New Orleans opponent. Accossatto knocked off his challenger from Jacksonville State, 6-4, 6-1, and Halfinger won an opening round match against Nicholls State, 6-3, 6-4.
 
In the first round of qualifying consolation matches, Hannig defeated Nicolas Simkin from Troy on a score of 6-1, 7-5. Accossatto also picked up a 6-4, 7-6 victory in his first consolation match, and later played a pick-up match against a player from Samford which he won 6-4, 6-4. Almeida then played a main draw consolation match against an Ole Miss opponent and earned a decisive 6-3, 6-2 win.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Jaguars will head to the Cajuns Classic, hosted by Louisiana, Friday, Oct. 20 through Sunday, Oct. 22.
 
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