Women's Tennis Ready for Big Weekend Homestand
2/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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After playing four of its last five matches on the road, tennis fans in Tuscaloosa will finally get the chance to see the University of Alabama women’s tennis team play consecutive matches at home. Alabama will host No. 10 Miami at 4 p.m. Friday and Murray State at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The Crimson Tide will enter this weekend’s action at 3-3 and are coming off a 4-3 victory over No. 39 Rice.
Alabama has played one of the nation’s toughest schedules to this point in the season. All six of the Tide’s opponents have been ranked, so Friday’s test against the highly touted Hurricanes won’t be much of a change. However, Miami will offer perhaps the stiffest challenge for the Tide yet. Miami boasts the nation’s No. 2 player, Megan Bradley, and the No. 4 doubles team of Bradley and Audrey Banada. Bradley is 26-1 on the year and won the 2004 ITA Southern Regionals, played in Tuscaloosa, in October.
“Miami is a talented team and kicked off their spring season with a significant win over UCLA,” head coach Jenny Mainz said. “They are experienced and showcase the No. 2 player in the nation and the No. 4 doubles tandem. This is certainly a notable opportunity for us to make a statement. We organized our schedule to provide these types of challenge and now its showtime.”
Perhaps the most highly anticipated singles match of the season will come in Friday’s match when Alabama’s Robin Stephenson will get her shot at Bradley. Stephenson has won eight of her last nine matches and has climbed to No. 6 in the ITA rankings, the highest any Alabama athlete has ever been ranked.
Tide athletes earn four national rankings
For the second time this season Alabama appears in the ITA national rankings four different times. The February 22 release of the ITA’s rankings shows Robin Stephenson at No. 6 and Ashley Bentley at No. 83 in singles. Stephenson’s No. 6 ranking is now the highest in Alabama history.
Stephenson and Bentley also check in at No. 17 in doubles while Mari Muller and Melissa Day are ranked 47th.
“It speaks volumes for our program to have two singles players nationally ranked and two doubles teams in the rankings,” Mainz said. “It’s rewarding to see the evidence of all the hard work. I am pleased to see our players establishing themselves among the elite in collegiate tennis. Robin has proven to be a worthy frontrunner and is now the highest nationally ranked women’s tennis player that has ever competed at The University of Alabama.”
