Tennis Begins Fall Season
9/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA ?? After making its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance in 2006, the University of Alabama tennis team will begin its fall season this weekend as five players participate in two separate events.
Junior Billy Mertz and sophomores Dan Buikema and Mathieu Thibaudeau will travel to Charlottesville, Virginia to play in the UVa Fall Invitational while juniors Javier Bes and Sammy Struyf will partake in the Thomasville Collegiate Invitational in Thomasville, Georgia.
“We’re excited to start the fall campaign,” Alabama head coach Billy Pate said. “We have a lot of enthusiasm about this team heading into this season and this is the most confident group that we’ve had here in terms of experience in a few years.”
Alabama returns all nine players from last year’s squad that finished the season at 14-13 overall and qualified for its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last seven seasons. Pate has also added the likes of Indian National Champion Saketh Myneni and African Boys 18’s Champion Houssam Yassine. Myneni will make his first appearance for Alabama next weekend at the Baylor Fall Invitational. He’ll be joined by senior Joseph Jung. Yassine will join the team in January.
“This team as a whole has big expectations for this season,” Pate said. “Everyone knows that our play this fall will contribute to our rankings in the spring and that’s something that could really help us come April and May.”
While the collegiate team tennis season runs from January to May, a player’s individual record from the fall season does carry over into the team tennis season and are considered when bids for the NCAA Tournament are handed out in May.
As a freshman in 2006, Buikema played a big part in the Crimson Tide’s success, especially late in the season. Between March 31 and April 15, Buikema won seven consecutive matches and finished the season at 17-11. His 7-4 conference record was tops on the team. Buikema, Mertz and Struyf together gave Alabama one of the most dependable No. 4, 5 and 6 players in the nation. In the final month of the season they combined to go 20-6 (Buikema 9-4, Mertz 5-0, Struyf 6-2).
Alabama players will compete in seven events this fall, including the Crimson Tide Fall Championships in Tuscaloosa October 26-29.
