Men's Tennis Opens Dual Match Play at Home
2/4/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 4, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The 33rd ranked men's tennis team (1-1) looks to start home dual match play this season on a high note as it hosts a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 5 beginning at 10 a.m. CT. The Crimson Tide will first take on No. 65 Troy (0-3) before facing Furman (0-4) at 3 p.m. All action will take place at the University of Alabama Tennis Stadium.
"It will be nice to return home play two quality opponents this Saturday," Alabama head coach Billy Pate said. "Traditionally, we've played well early in the season at home, and we want to see that trend continue. As we talked about after last weekend's dual match opener, we just need match experience and to focus on improvement every day. Saturday is an opportunity to play two tough opponents and see what type of progress we're making."
Last time out, Alabama went 1-1 during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Tide lost its first match of the season, 4-1, to No. 29 Rice but bounced back to post a 4-0 sweep of No. 37 Hawai'i on Sunday. Junior Ricky Doverspike led Alabama with a pair of straight-set singles wins at No. 1 including a 6-3, 6-1 decision over 44th-ranked Harry Fowler from Rice. Freshman Daniil Proskura would provide the clinching match win for the Tide against Hawai'i when he took down Rainbow Warriors newcomer Danilo Casanova 6-2, 6-3.
Troy is looking to rebound after back-to-back losses in Gainesville, Fla., first against 57th-ranked North Carolina State and then to 61st-ranked UC Santa Barbara. The Trojans are 0-11 versus Alabama all-time.
Furman comes to Tuscaloosa after a two week hiatus following a brutal opening weekend that saw the Paladins fall to three ranked teams in No. 9 Florida, No. 42 Nebraska and No. 27 Florida State, as well as unranked Florida Atlantic. The Paladins enter Saturday's match with a 1-14 record against the Tide.
Coincidentally, Alabama also opened its 2009 home dual match season against Troy and then 69th ranked Furman. The Tide collected a 6-1 win over Troy that day followed by a 5-2 victory against Furman.
Alabama will be back in action next weekend on the road as it takes on TCU and SMU on Feb. 11 and 12, respectively.
Players Mentioned
