2015 Net News - March 20
3/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Happy Spring Break from Bama,
With the majority of Tuscaloosa out of town celebrating the early parts of spring and a hiatus from school, the Tide began its "vacation" on a road trip. We didn't hit the beach or the slopes but rather cruised down I-65 to Auburn and then onward to Gainesville.
The Iron Bowl of tennis was played last Friday night under dark skies and bright green cells on the radar screens. Fresh off an exciting win over the Rebs, Alabama had to move onward to our own Iron Bowl. We had seen the Tigers perform very well in the fall at the ITA Regional Championships having three of their players reach the tournament semifinals and one ultimately win it all. They returned some familiar faces to their lineup and added a pair of transfers which strengthened their team.
We began outdoors amidst numerous cries/yells/cheers of War Eagle and a forecast that called for rain. Several former Auburn players were on hand for the rivalry match, while many others made their way to the Tiger cheering section from a couple of tailgates taking place in the parking lot. Stuart and Sean were quick out of the gates grabbing an early break in their doubles match. On the flip side, DK and Nikko found themselves down a break early on (but would later recover), while Becker and Korey were in a slug fest at No. 1 ultimately breaking their opponents. And then Mother Nature got involved in the match.
After about an hour break, play resumed indoors and Bama was able to hold onto their leads at No. 1 and No. 2 and snag the doubles point. The crowd seemed to get a little louder and rowdier as we headed into singles. Last season we had won the doubles point however came up short in singles to lose the contest. This time around we were not going to let history repeat itself other than claiming a second consecutive victory in Tiger country.
Korey, Nikko and Stuart claimed their first sets while Becker, DK and Sam were battling in some great matches of their own. After Korey displayed another stellar winning performance in the top slot, Nikko and Stuart sealed the deal for Bama ... with Jay Z playing in the background, "onto the next one"... well not exactly this song but definitively on our minds.
What a solid team victory where the guys were composed and focused not letting the home town crowd and cheering disrupt their goal. As Auburn's coach put it, "Credit to Alabama. They handled the moment better than we did."
And a big high five to our Blue Gray host families for driving over to the match and cheering us on - Roll Tide Brooks and Jennifer Seale, Nancy Seale, Will and Hamilton Chapman and Henry Lawson. Let's not also forget the Bama parents and team staff that were in attendance and helping the visiting team feel at home. Onward to Gator country.
The drive to Gainesville the next day was a little long (comfortable travel being a constant challenge of the SEC season) but under sunny skies. When we arrived at Florida it was near 80 degrees and our match with the Gators on Sunday was to be even warmer. So it was hydration time which the guys did a good job with in order to prepare for the match.
Doubles was close on all courts but the wrong team jumped out in front with a 1-0 lead. Not to be discouraged, the Tide came out firing in singles and captured four of six first sets. Sam played a very solid match and won his first SEC match of his young career, while Becker also put a point up on the big board for Bama. Following a Florida win at 3 and 4, Florida inched ahead 3-2 with two to play. Both Korey and Stuart had won their first sets but struggled in the second, which set up a final showdown.
Stuart's opponent caught fire and rattled off point after point while Korey went up a break 5-3. He was ready to close out the match and shift all the attention onto Stuart. The hot streak that Stu's opponent was on continued and the Gators snatched a 4-2 victory. The guys were upset because this match was there to take and we just didn't quite produce enough across the board to leave town with a "W". One thing we did leave with however was the belief that we were/are for real. We backed up a super match against Ole Miss with a solid win at Auburn and were right there with Florida.
While the road trip gave us a win/loss split, it also gave us confidence heading into this weekend's matches - Friday, March 20 at 5 vs. No. 23 LSU and Sunday, March 22 at 1 p.m. vs. No. 7 Texas A&M and at 5 p.m. vs. Mercer If you're back from Spring Break bring your game to the UA Tennis Stadium and cheer on the Tide. See you at the courts!
RTR, George
