Alabama
Rice Invitational
Alabama Women’s Tennis Finishes Play at Rice Invitational
9/25/2016 4:03:00 PM | Women's Tennis
HOUSTON, Texas – The Alabama women's tennis team finished play at the Rice Invitational Sunday afternoon at the George R. Brown Tennis Center in Houston, Texas. The Crimson Tide posted a 4-1 mark in today's solo flight of singles, and Danielle Spielmann was crowned champion of her respective singles division.
"I was pleased with the way we competed this weekend," said head coach Jenny Mainz. "We showed improvement through the tournament. Our goals were to get in our matches early, compete with tenacity and work on the things we need to do to be effective. I felt like we achieved these goals. We gained a lot of invaluable match play. We'll go back to the drawing board and get to work."
In the first weekend of the 2016 season Alabama collected an 18-3 singles record and a 5-3 record in doubles play.
Yesterday, Alabama recorded an impressive 6-2 record in singles play and a 3-3 mark in doubles action.
Earlier today, the Tide posted a 4-1 mark in final flight of singles play. Freshman Juliana Valero outlasted Garrido Riva of TCU in a match that was decided in a tie-breaker, 6-1, 7-5(10-6). Alabama's freshman Maddie Pothoff collected the second singles win of the day, as she defeated Carolin Drescher of Southern Miss, 6-3, 6-2. Senior Joanna Saava topped Ana Perez of Texas State, 6-4, 6-2, before Spielmann was claimed champion of her flight by clinching a three set thriller over Rice's Fernanda Astete, 4-6, 6-0, 6-4.
The Tide will be back in action on Tuesday, Sept. 27, when it travels to Charleston, S.C., to compete in the ITF 10K Charleston.
Alabama Results:
Day Two:
Singles:
Juliana Valero (Alabama) def. Maureen Slattery (Denver) 6-2, 1-6, 7-5
Maddie Pothoff (Alabama) def. Ana Perez (SMU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
Petra Granic (Texas) def. Maddie Pothoff (Alabama) 3-6, 7-6, 6-0
Smith Hinton (Alabama) def. Julia Navajo Melendez (Texas State) 6-0, 6-1
Smith Hinton (Alabama) def. Alex Kitchen (USM) 6-1, 6-2
Danielle Spielmann (Alabama) def. Sarah Jurakovs (McNeese State) 6-4, 6-3
Danielle Spielmann (Alabama) def. Priya Niezgoda (Rice) 6-2, 6-2
Tsveta Dimitrova (Houston) def. Joanna Saava (Alabama) 7-6(5), 7-6(4)
Day Three:
Juliana Valero (Alabama) def. Garrido Riva (TCU) 6-1, 7-5(10-6)
Maddie Pothoff (Alabama) def. Carolin Drescher (USM) 6-3, 6-2
Alison Ho (Rice) def. Smith Hinton (Alabama) 6-1, 7-5
Danielle Spielmann (Alabama) def. Fernanda Astete (Rice) 4-6, 6-0, 6-4
Joanna Saava (Alabama) def. Ana Perez (Texas State) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles:
Valero/Pothoff (Alabama) def. Wagland/Granic (Texas) 6-4
Bashota/Rivas (TCU) def. Valero/Pothoff (Alabama) 6-2
Hodge/Zhang (Rice) def. Valero/Pothoff (Alabama) 7-5
Hinton/Saava (Alabama) def. Rossell/Kato (UTSA) 6-3
Fioretti/urakova (McNeese State) def. Hinton/Saava (Alabama) 6-3
Hinton/Saava (Alabama) def. Birowski/Lopez (UTA) 6-3
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Players Mentioned
