Alabama
UCF
Alabama Women’s Tennis Travels to UCF Before Hosting Belmont and UAB
1/25/2018 10:27:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The Crimson Tide will face the Knights on Friday, Jan. 26 before playing host to the Bruins and the Blazers on Sunday, Jan. 28
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama women's tennis team will compete in its first road test against UCF on Friday, Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. CT, and will later host another pair of matches on Sunday, Jan. 28 against Belmont and UAB. Sunday's matches will start at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
LAST TIME ON THE COURT
The Crimson Tide (4-0) outlasted Western Kentucky, 4-3, and then dominated Lipscomb, 6-0, on Sunday, Jan. 21 at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.
In the morning, the Tide held the one-point edge over Western Kentucky (0-1) thanks to winning the doubles point at the beginning of the match. In singles, sophomore Alba Cortina-Pou put the Tide up by two, after handling Cindy Oest, 6-3, 6-1, on court five, while junior Andie Daniell rolled past WKU's top singles player, Elpida Malamou, 7-6(5), 6-1. For the win, sophomore Jacqueline Pelletier answered the call and iced the match by defeating Natalia De Urgate, 6-4, 6-3, on court six.
In the night cap, Alabama won a hard-fought battle against Lipscomb (0-1) for the doubles point and later dominated in singles for the shutout. Sophomore Luca Fabian rolled past Madeleine Brooks, 6-0, 6-1, on court three, while Daniell cruised past Kateryna Popova, 6-3, 6-0, at the No. 1 position. Senior Smith Hinton handled Hannah Gamage on court two in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, to solidify the win. Furthermore, freshman Kylie Moulin defeated Denise Buberl, 6-2, 6-2, while sophomore Kimberley Gintrand topped Katerina Kandyba, 6-2, 7-6(5).
SERVING UP 2018
Alabama opened the spring season on Jan. 13 after a successful fall slate, where the Crimson Tide competed in three tournaments, including the 30th Annual Roberta Alison Fall Classic at the end of October.
Alabama returns three letterwinners and welcomes five newcomers, including four transfers, to 2018.
Junior Andie Daniell comes back to the Capstone as the Tide's top player, ranking at No. 106 in the latest ITA rankings.
Daniell opened the fall season ranked at No. 37 on the ITA preseason list and finished fall play, 9-2, defeating two ranked opponents (No. 85 Madison Westby, Southern California, and No. 56 Eden Richardson, LSU), while reaching the semifinal round of the 2017 ITA Southern Regional Championships.
Alabama tennis will use PlaySight, a live streaming technology, which provides the ability to live stream in high definition and record/store practice and match sessions to the indoor and outdoor tennis facilities.
MARKETING PROMOTIONS
Free Krispy Kreme for the first 50 fans at the 10 a.m. match and free McAlister's cookies for the first 50 fans at the 4 p.m. match.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT – UCF
Friday's match will mark the second meeting in program history between the Crimson Tide and the Knights. In the first contest, Alabama shutout UCF, 7-0, on Feb. 12, 2011.
The Knights enter Friday's competition, 2-0, after topping then-No. 15 South Carolina, 4-3, and North Texas, 4-1.
Head coach Bryan Koniecko enters his second season at the helm of the program after finishing 13-9 in 2017. Seniors Monica Matias and Emilia Granstrom, along with junior Natalia Serrano, are the only returners from last year's squad that advanced to the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Championships. Joining the veteran trio for 2018 is the 13th ranking signing class from Tennis Recruiting Network.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT – BELMONT
Sunday will mark the first meeting in program history between the Bruins and the Crimson Tide.
Belmont enters the weekend, 0-2, after falling to Middle Tennessee, 7-0, and Chattanooga, 5-2.
Last season, the Bruins capped the year with a 5-15 record and went 3-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT – UAB
The Crimson Tide and the Blazers will meet for the 23rd time in program history on Sunday, and Alabama holds a huge 21-1 advantage over its in-state foe. In the last meeting, the Tide defeated the Blazers, 4-0, in its season opener on Jan. 15, 2017. UAB's sole win against Alabama fell on Feb. 13, 1998 (7-2).
The Blazers enter the weekend, 1-1, after falling to Memphis,5-2, in its season opener, and blanking Kennesaw State, 7-0.
UAB finished the 2017 campaign, 5-15, and capped the season in the first round of the Conference USA Championships against Old Dominion.
SEC PRESEASON POLL
The Crimson Tide was picked to finish 13 in the league as the conference coaches chose the Georgia Bulldogs to win it all on Wednesday.
2017 REVIEW
Last season, the Crimson Tide was ranked in the ITA polls for 11 straight weeks (Feb. 28-May 24) and held its highest ranking at No. 33 on April 11 after the team defeated in-state rival No. 12 Auburn, 4-3. In the final ITA rankings, the Tide landed at No. 43. The squad also topped two other top-40 teams including No. 40 Tulsa (Feb. 24) and No. 13 Kentucky (March 24).
Former Crimson Tide tandem of Maddie Pothoff and Erin Routliffe highlighted the 2017 campaign, finishing as the runner-up at the NCAA Doubles Championship, which marked the third time in the last four year a Tide pairing made the NCAA double championship The tandem ended the year as the second best team in the nation and registered four victories against ranked opponents in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The most notable win the pair had on the year was in a 7-6 (4) decision against Kentucky's No. 4-ranked doubles team which helped the Tide edge the Wildcats for the 14th time in school history. Both Routliffe and Pothoff earned All-America honors and was named to the ITA Collegiate All-Star Team, while Pothoff also earned First Team All-SEC honors.
COMING UP
Alabama will host another pair of matches on Saturday, Feb. 3. The Crimson Tide are set to face Chattanooga at 10 a.m. and will compete against Alabama A&M at 4 p.m. at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaWTN on Twitter and Facebook and AlabamaWTN on Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
Players Mentioned
