Net News - Feb. 16 - Alabama Athletics

Happy Valentine's Week Everyone,

We're back from Oklahoma and in time to celebrate Happy Heart Day. The candy started to pour into the team lounge early Valentine's Day morning, and as of this afternoon, there wasn't much left. Plenty of sweet teeth here at the tennis facility. The Crimson Tide learned a lot from our trip to the Sooner State as we faced our highest level of competition thus far and discovered what kind of tennis we will need to play come April and May. We also introduced our new guys - Alexey, Thibault, Ritchie, Edson and Zhe – to a couple of team traditions. The first was the "Roll Tide Roll Take-Off" which resembles what's heard from the crowd when Alabama kicks off during a football game. For us, the cheer takes place on our first flight out of and last flight into Birmingham. As the plane races down the runway, the newcomers need to lead the team in a call of "Rollllllllllll, Tide Roll!". Click here to see how we did on this trip. Thank you Zhe for your video recording skills.

We also shared a good laugh celebrating Mazen's 22nd birthday. Typically a player or coach who celebrates his special day during the school year can pretty much guarantee to get a whip cream pie or cake in the face. It first happened to me while coaching at Illinois and the tradition has stayed with me ever since. The team went to Walmart after dinner on Thursday to purchase water, gatorade and bananas for our Oklahoma State match. We made sure that the group split up into two with some guys going to the produce section while the other, including Mazen, went to the drink aisle. Mazen had no clue what was going on, and quite frankly, neither did I, but Katie, our trainer & team mom, and Zhe took over the reigns. After making our purchase, the team walked out to the parking lot and Zhe shouted out "Maz!" while filming him on his phone. As our gullible, sophomore walked towards our freshman, Katie snuck up behind Mazen and shoved a key lime pie in his face. Perfect execution. Click here to see how this unforgettable birthday was celebrated.

Back to tennis action…Oklahoma State was strong and used their veteran leadership to rough us up a bit, but not before we took three matches into 3rd set super-breakers. We had shots to win on all of these courts (Mazen, Thibault & Edson), but in the end, fell by scores of 10-7, 10-7 and 10–8. We spent time afterwards in the locker room discussing what the primary differences were between the Cowboys and the Tide. We didn't feel like there was much other than a little better execution, ability to stay engaged in the game plan and bigger belief. Sometimes it takes a leap of faith to get to the next step and I felt the match motivated us to push ourselves harder in Sunday's battle with Oklahoma. After a second consecutive dinner at Da Vinci's, we headed back to the hotel for post–match treatment and a full night of sleep.

We left Stillwater for Norman the following day after watching the first half of Alabama men's basketball vs. Kentucky. We seemed eager to get on the road and onto the Oklahoma courts for practice. We had a solid hitting session and felt physically, mentally and emotionally ready for for our match with the Sooners. Doubles turned out to be a key component heading into singles play. Our serves were broken on two courts by the infamous, no-ad deuce point and the Sooners went ahead 1-0. The home team stepped out in front a little bit in singles but we claimed a pair of first sets on two courts and were battling on the others. Edson gave us our first point by registering a solid, straight set win at #4, while Langford was going the distance on court #6. Thibault was neck and neck with his opponent at #2 and Ritchie was up a break in the second set on #5. Mazen had also made a charge back and captured the second set in his match on court #1. While the momentum made a shift towards the Tide, the Sooners also lifted their games and responded very well to our push. In the end, Mazen was the only player to finish first across the finish line while his teammates were clipped at the wire in close contests. Oklahoma 5, Alabama 2. So close but that only counts in a game of horse shoes. We did improve a ton from Friday to Sunday and the experience will no doubt make us better down the road.

So now we're back in Tuscaloosa and entering Stage 2 of our young season. There's a little time before our next competition, the Blue Gray Championships in Montgomery, Alabama February 24 & 25, and we're also making the switch to outdoor tennis. From now on, we will only play indoors if the weather doesn't cooperate. We've been blessed by some incredible sunshine of late and Mother Nature is going to keep T-Town warmer than usual for the next ten days. It won't take us long to get used to the courts but we will experience some higher bouncing balls, and of course, the elements.

Our next home match is the SEC opener vs. Ole Miss on Friday, March 3 and Arkansas on Sunday, March 5. Friday night's promotion features Alabama Campus Night and the Crimson Racket Club, our official booster club, will host their first cookout of the year. All fans will be treated to free food fresh off our new, custom built grill in addition to super tennis action.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Crimson Racket Club let me provide some information. The CRC is a fun and exciting way to integrate our players with the Tuscaloosa Tennis Community as well as a fantastic opportunity to continue the growth and advancement of the Alabama men's and women's tennis programs. Members receive a special gift each season and are also provided with access to the CRC Hospitality Suite at home matches for something to eat and/or drink. Memberships help put more fans in the seats and allow us all to share a season of excitement and celebration together. For more information and to become a CRC member today, click here.

We wish everyone a great weekend ahead – our only free one of the season – and hope to see you in Montgomery on February 24 & 25 or back in T-Town on March 3 & 5.

Roll Tide,

George

University of Alabama Athletics

Net News - Feb. 16

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