Jack Loutit Set to Compete at ITA South Sectional
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With one final chance to qualify for the 2024 NCAA Singles Championship, sophomore Jack Loutit is slated to take part in the inaugural ITA South Sectional Championships this weekend. The event, hosted by Florida State at the Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center, will run from November 7-10 and act as one of two last chance qualifiers for the first-ever fall edition of the NCAA Individual Championships.
The sectional will feature a 32-player singles draw, made up of players from the Ohio Valley, Southern, and Southeast Regionals who have yet to qualify for the Individual Championships. Loutit enters the field as the No. 2 seed and will open his tournament run on Thursday, November 7 at 12:30 p.m. ET. The Auckland, New Zealand native will face off against Christophe Clement of Georgia Tech in the opening round. Clement, a junior in his first season in Atlanta, played his first two seasons of college tennis with the Wildcats.
Loutit was an SEC All-Freshman Team member in 2023, posting a 27-9 singles record during his opening campaign. In September, he earned his first call-up to the New Zealand Davis Cup Team, defeating Chris Rodesch of Luxembourg in his only rubber.
Six singles entries will be up for grabs in Tallahassee—as well as the other three sectional sites around the country. The four semifinalists will automatically qualify for the NCAA Singles Tournament, held from November 19-24 at Baylor’s Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas. The final two bids will go to the two quarterfinal playoff winners, meaning Loutit must win three matches in the Seminole State to qualify for NCAAs.
The Round of 32 will be played on Thursday, followed by the Round of 16 on Friday. Saturday will feature the all-important quarterfinal round, whose winners will punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Action will conclude on Sunday, with the semifinals and final. The quarterfinal playoffs will also take place on Sunday. A consolation draw will take place over the course of the weekend as well.
36 entries of the 64-player draw have already been decided, with the final 28 spots to be filled over the course of the weekend at the four Sectionals, as well as the ITA Conference Masters.
