Net News - January 29
1/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Roll Tide Everyone,
Week 3 of the 2016 season has arrived and it takes the Tide (5-1) on the road to Tallahassee for a match with the Seminoles of Florida State. This is an excellent opportunity for us to play a strong team on the road, outdoors and on television. The match is scheduled for Friday at 5 p.m. EST and will be aired on ESPN3. All fans will be able to watch this match, with a full broadcast crew, on their smartphone, tablet or computer. FSU has had several matches aired over the past couple of seasons and it gives fans worldwide the opportunity to catch an exciting live college match. The new scoring format also makes tv an option given the reduced average length of matches start to finish. So back to back weekends in the Sunshine State for Bama and we're ready to battle again.
Reflecting back on last weekend, I was really impressed with the way our team handled the conditions and competition at North Florida. The whole point of the trip outside of playing matches was to get us out of our comfort zone and have a chance to play outside before Florida State. We faced two opponents in Miami and UNF that were new to us and planned to play UNC Wilmington but it was cancelled due to inclement weather. The day started early and we lost an hour by entering the Eastern Time Zone. Following a 4-5 hour delay due to a passing storm we hit the courts late that afternoon for round 1 against the "U". It was windy which created plenty of miss hit balls and conditions challenged our minds. Korey did an excellent job of sticking to his game plan and was first off. Spencer followed suit and dispatched his opponent in straight sets. After Becker bumped us within one point of the win after a 3-set victory, Mazen came back twice from a break down in the third set to seal the deal. After getting down 1-3 in the final set tiebreaker, the freshman reeled off 5 straight points to give Bama match point. DK was locked at 2-2 in the third when Mazen missed his first clinching opportunity but he wasn't going to miss out on his second as he ripped an ace flat out wide at 6-4. Match Bama!
The coaches were eager to get another match in due to the very cold weather forecasted for Saturday. So after a chat with the team and a game ball awarded to Mazen, the players elected to play sooner rather than later. They felt their bodies would get tight and relaxed if we waited too long. The Ospreys of UNF were juiced to get this match in and they began bumping their pre-match music loud and proud.
We played the same format with singles first followed by doubles. The energy was there but the sun wasn't and neither were calm conditions and warmth. It didn't matter though as all the players focused on the task at hand while our opponents yelled and screamed after each point they won, including a chest bump by the UNF head coach and one of his players. Too good. It definitely created an exciting atmosphere and also kept their fans engaged in the points rather than the temperatures. Local hot cocoa vendors missed their selling opportunity.
Bama and Big Beck struck first on court 3 with his sixth straight win but UNF retaliated by grabbing a point on courts 5 and 1 respectively. Mazen knotted the score at 2-2 with a straight set victory. Interestingly he was up 6-1, 4-1 before facing a 4-5 deficit and his opponent serving for the second set. That momentum swing gave UNF some extra juice and belief of taking down the Tide but our talented Egyptian reeled off 12 of the next 13 points to even the overall score.
Grayson and Matt were both locked in three set thrillers. They had each won the first set in their matches and dropped the second. Grayson had an incredible comeback in his first frame when he came back from 2-6 in the tiebreaker to win 12-10. That was fun to see up close. Matt was down 0-3 in his first set before winning nine straight games. He ran into a bit of bad luck in the second but that's the beauty and beast of tennis. You're so close to the finish line and then all of a sudden the end appears miles away. Both guys handled the crowd, weather, pressure and one of the best/annoying hecklers of all time and closed out their matches. They won their matches within a few seconds of each other. Match Bama #2.
We got into Maggiano's just after 10:30 p.m. and into bed after midnight. We met for breakfast the next morning with a few sore muscles, aches and desire to go back to bed. The match was cancelled due to the 36 degree weather and 20+ mph winds and no indoor back-up. The guys were pumped and we got to spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing, eating very good Mexican food at Taco Libre and watching a good (and heavy) movie in 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Wow that was eye opening.
After a couple of days off and getting caught up on schoolwork the boys regrouped with some ultimate frisbee, practice and competition in preparation for Florida State. Becker got the black shirt for the week and has represented it well. Here's to our next opportunity against the Seminoles and maybe we can celebrate with some crab legs on Friday night.
Roll Tide!
George
