Net News - March 18
3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Hello Bama Tennis Fans,
After a very entertaining and exciting three-match homestand that burned many physical, mental and emotional calories, Alabama men's tennis hit the road this week during the tail end of our Spring Break. We first find ourselves in the heart of the bayou for a duel with LSU before we leap one more state to the west and face Texas A&M. Mother Nature could impact our match location against the Tigers, as rain is in the forecast for Friday's 5:30 p.m. start. LSU, however, just opened a beautiful, new tennis complex that has both indoor and outdoor courts so the "first serve" won't be delayed.
Now back to last weekend where the Tide tangled with Tennessee, Kentucky and The Citadel. The match against the Vols was threatened by rain throughout the afternoon. The tennis facility crew, headed by our honorary first server Tina Thomas and her first class gals Yaquelyn, Leticia and Ashlee, worked their tails off to get the courts dry and ready for action. It was an all afternoon effort that allowed us to get the match started outdoors. We unfortunately started off a bit lethargic against Tennessee, who always has tough doubles teams. They didn't make many errors and certainly kept us playing ball after ball and point after point. We went down 0-1 and had to quickly emerge from the brief five minute break with more urgency and tenacity, or it was going to be a quick evening. After about 15 minutes of outdoor play, the clouds above produced multiple rain drops and forced us inside for the remainder of the match.
This move seemed to light a spark in our mood and re-energize us. All the players on court and in the stands put on a resilient and entertaining show. Cheers echoed throughout the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility, and the Tide came away with an impressive victory against the Vols - just our second in the past 10 years. Matthew Rossouw, Mazen Osama, Grayson Goldin, Becker O'Shaughnessey and Korey Lovett put five points on the scoreboard for the home team, which led to lighting up victory cigars. The tradition began when Alabama's head trainer, Jim Goostree, handed out cigars to the football team after they defeated Tennessee in 1961. The Crimson Tide had won just once in 13 years, and that victory called for a bigger celebration. Ever since that time, the tradition has stuck, so why not after a tennis win? As we sang Yea Alabama! in the locker room the sweet smell of a victory cigar lingered throughout the facility while we celebrated a solid night of competing and finishing. Game ball honors were awarded to Grayson and Korey ... well done boys!
Following a light hit indoors on a drizzly Saturday, the Tide returned on Sunday for a doubleheader on the first day of daylight savings - I love this time of year. Kentucky was coming off a tough loss at Mississippi State a day earlier but were winners of five of their last six matches and a No. 12 national team ranking. Once again our invaluable facilities crew got our courts dried even after a late morning drizzle that delayed the start by 15 minutes. Roll Tide ladies!
The doubles point was key as the Wildcats were tough at every singles position. Spencer Richey and Matt Rossouw, our rock solid rookie duo, got things rolling for us with an impressive win that provided momentum and incentive to the other two courts. While Grayson and Becker were knotted at 4-4, Mazen and Korey broke their opponents' serve at 6-5 to push their score to 7-5 and give the home team a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
Kentucky would not let this result dampen their spirits and came out firing with big wins at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5. After Matt got the Tide on the board at line 6, freshman Spencer Richey and sophomore Korey Lovett battled deep into their matches. Back and forth they went and only a few small openings appeared to claim victory. The crowd cheered each player on and the atmosphere was exactly what a college tennis match should be. The plot thickened when Spencer closed out his match with an impressive three-set victory to even the dual match at 3-3 and bring all eyes to court No. 2. Our sophomore from Brevard, North Carolina, Korey, lived for moments like these and created opportunity after opportunity for himself and his team. He narrowly missed a shot on his lone match point as it clipped the net and bounced back on his side. It was the fourth or fifth deuce point of the final set which made for more drama and butterflies in our stomachs. It all came down to another sudden death point, this time at 5-6 ... Bama break point and Kentucky match point. What seemed to be a winning forehand shot down the line by Korey narrowly missed the sideline and the Cats scratched their way to a narrow 4-3 win. Rats! It was a privilege to be in that position against a very tough team, and we would gain confidence and knowledge moving forward from our efforts. Tough one to swallow but onward and upward we went.
There wasn't much time to rest as we faced The Citadel and legendary coach Chuck Kriese in the nightcap. Oddly enough, the last time we played the Bulldogs, we had just lost a 4-3 gut wrencher to Arkansas and on the same court too. Be that as it may, we needed to put forth another great effort for it's not how you start it's how you finish ... and finish we did. We clearly were bummed by the day's earlier result, and I think that created some stoic strength in the doubles portion as we swept all three matches. We moved into singles, and Becker played flawlessly to quickly put us up 2-0. Junior Hayes Brewer followed as did Grayson, Danny Kerznerman and Langford Hills. While the day ended with a tough 10-point breaker for Spencer, it did result in a 6-1 win overall. Match Bama!
I was really happy with the team's efforts over the weekend, particularly following some opportunities to be distracted. Whether it was dropping the doubles point to Tennessee, moving from outdoors to indoors that same evening, coming up just short of the Wildcats or working until the later hours of Sunday night, this team got a lot better physically, mentally and emotionally. We are still working hard on focused energy and purpose driven execution that will get all the wheels rolling at the same time for this bus. We are becoming more of a united team each day we lace up our shoes, grip our rackets and step on the courts. We are gaining invaluable experience that will keep pushing us onward and upward. We are #strivingtogether. And as someone told me today, opportunities will multiply when they are seized. Well then, it's time to seize.
Roll Tide,
George
