Alabama Women?s Tennis Shoots for Division Title
4/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? With just three Southeastern Conference matches remaining on the schedule, the Alabama women’s tennis team can clinch its second division title in the last four years with a win this Sunday at Arkansas.
The Crimson Tide (8-8, 4-4 SEC) enters this weekend’s action with a one-game lead over the Razorbacks (8-8, 3-5 SEC) and could clinch no worse than a tie for the Western Division’s top spot with a win Sunday. However, before Alabama can fully turn its attention to Arkansas, it will attempt to get past LSU (9-9, 1-7 SEC) Friday at 4 p.m.
“Obviously, this is a big weekend for us,” head coach Jenny Mainz said. “We’re back on the road after a nice home stretch and I’ve told our team that the biggest part of our season is still ahead of us. We need to approach both matches with some urgency and come out and play well.”
After playing seven of its last eight matches at home, Alabama will play back-to-back road matches for the first time since March 5 and will close out the season with four straight on the road. The Tide is just 2-5 this season away from Tuscaloosa.
Robin Stephenson and Ashley Bentley each wrote their names into Alabama’s record books last week. Stephenson broke the school’s all-time career wins record Friday and Bentley moved into second place all-time with a win Sunday. Both have been playing their best tennis of the season of late and make Alabama tough to beat when they each win. The Tide is 7-2 this season when both Stephenson and Bentley win in singles.
Friday’s match at LSU is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start while Sunday’s showdown with Arkansas is slated for 1 p.m.
