Alabama Men?s Tennis to Face Two Ranked SEC Foes
3/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- The No. 11 University of Alabama men's tennis team faces two ranked opponents this weekend as it jumps back into SEC play. The squad travels to Knoxville to play No. 36 Tennessee on Friday, March 23 at 3 p.m. and returns home to host top-ranked Georgia on Sunday, March 25 at 1 p.m.
Alabama plays Tennessee at the Varsity Tennis Courts on the UT campus and squares off with Georgia at the UA Varsity Courts in Tuscaloosa.
"We face a difficult weekend as we resume SEC competition," said Alabama head coach Billy Pate. "After a good outing at the Blue-Gray Classic last week we need to maintain that momentum and be at our best against an outstanding Tennessee team in Knoxville and top ranked Georgia at home on Sunday."
Alabama (13-3, 3-1 SEC) returns to conference action after an impressive showing at the Blue Gray National Tournament last weekend. The Crimson Tide is led by No. 89 Joseph Jung and No. 121 Mathieu Thibaudeau in singles and No. 28 Thibaudeau and Dan Buikema in doubles.
Junior Billy Mertz looks to pick up his 20th win of the season as he faces Tennessee and Georgia. Mertz is 19-6 on the season and 3-1 in the SEC.
Tennessee (10-4, 2-2 SEC) is on a three-match winning streak after defeating Murray State and The Citadel last weekend. The Vols feature No. 29 Bobby Cameron, No. 36 Kaden Kensel and No. 120 Davey Sandgren in singles and No. 20 Cameron and Hensel and No. 55 Ben Rogers and Adam Hubble in doubles.
Alabama trails 11-31 in its all-time series with Tennessee dating back to 1953. Last season the Tide picked up its first win over the Vols in six years by a score of 5-2.
Georgia (15-0, 4-0 SEC) remains the top team in the land, defeating another ranked opponent in No. 4 Southern Cal last week. Georgia is led by senior John Isner who holds the top ranking in both singles and doubles with partner Luis Flores.
Other ranked Bulldogs include No. 9 Luis Flores, No. 11 Travis Helgeson, No. 31 Matic Omerzel, No. 79 Nate Schnugg and No. 86 Jamie Hunt. In doubles, Omerzel and Helgeson is No. 10, Isner and Josh Varela is No. 19, Ricardo Gonzales and Hunt is No. 47 and Hunt and Schnugg is 59.
Alabama and Georgia look to continue their domination in the doubles lineup as both teams have had success in that category. The Bulldogs are undefeated in doubles, earning all 15 points, while the Crimson Tide has only given up one point in 16 matches.
The Tide is 8-46 all-time against the Bulldogs, dating back to 1951.
Live stats will be available through www.rolltide.com for the Georgia match and admission to that contest is free.
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