Women's Tennis Hosts Pair of SEC Matches This Weekend
3/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The No. 9 Alabama women's tennis team is set to host the No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats, and the No. 10 Vanderbilt Commodores this weekend at the Alabama Tennis Stadium in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide (13-4, 5-3 SEC) will square off with the Wildcats on Friday at 5:00 p.m. CT, before a 1:00 p.m. CT first serve vs. the Commodores on Sunday. This weekend's action begins a stretch for the Tide in which it will play its final five regular season matches at home.
Alabama split a pair of highly-competitive SEC road matches over the weekend, defeating the LSU Tigers by a final score of 5-2 on Friday in Baton Rouge, before falling to the Texas A&M Aggies, 4-3, on Sunday in College Station. The Tide and Aggies played to a match-deciding third and final set on the last remaining singles court on Sunday.
The Tide continues to play commanding doubles, having won 15 of 17 opening points thus far on the season. Alabama's court one pairing of No. 4 Erin Routliffe and Maya Jansen have gone a perfect 15-0 on the season. The Tide also continues to have the top half of its singles lineup ranked nationally by the ITA, as Routliffe (30), Jansen (48) and Danielle Spielmann (66) have all appeared in the rankings for the duration of the season. Jansen paces the Tide with 11 individual singles victories thus far.
The 18th-ranked Kentucky women's tennis team (14-6, 5-2 SEC) travels to Tuscaloosa riding a three-match win streak, and has also won seven of its last nine matches overall. Kentucky boasts the No. 28 doubles team in the country, and also has a pair of nationally ranked singles players. The Wildcats hold a 35-13 advantage in the all-time series.
The Vanderbilt Commodores (11-5, 6-1 SEC) are the first Top 10 team the Tide will face since knocking off No. 3 Georgia back on March 6 in Tuscaloosa. The Commodores have all three of their doubles teams nationally ranked - including three in the Top 25 - and have five of their six singles players ranked. Vanderbilt owns a 22-17 all-time advantage in the history of the series.
Both matches feature free admission and will be available via live scoring on rolltide.com. Prior to first serve on Friday vs. Kentucky, the Alabama ROTC will present the colors as part of Military Appreciation Night. Sunday is USTA/ITA Kids Day, featuring a bounce house, free pizza for all kids in attendance, and a post-match hit-around with members of the Crimson Tide.
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