Alabama Men’s Tennis Improves to 13-0 With Win Against Rice in 70th Blue Gray National Tennis Classic

Friday, February 23

Montgomery, Ala.

9 a.m. CT

Alabama

Rice

Alabama Men’s Tennis Improves to 13-0 With Win Against Rice in 70th Blue Gray National Tennis Classic

2/23/2018 5:22:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Match Results (PDF)

The Crimson Tide defeated the Owls 4-1 and currently leads Arizona 1-0

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama men's tennis team extended its best start in program history with a 4-1 win over Rice in the 70^th Blue Gray National Tennis Classic on Friday morning at Lagoon Park in Montgomery, Ala. UA also currently leads Arizona 1-0 after completing the doubles point today, with singles play to be finished tomorrow at 10 a.m.

"It was a good start to the weekend, this morning was an earlier than usual start for us, but the guys had a great warm-up and were ready to go," said head coach George Husack. "The weather was also hot and humid which could've impacted some of our concentration, but the guys did a super job of staying positive and persistent which led to positive results. Rice is the defending champion (of the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic) and went toe-to-toe with us. They didn't back down and we responded with great resolve."

"Arizona came out energized and motivated this afternoon. We fell behind early on a couple of courts but hung in there. Zhe (Zhou) and Patrick (Kaukovalta) came back from a 1-5 deficit to keep the momentum at a standstill and allow our guys at the 1 & 2 positions settle in and snatch the doubles point. That was huge. Now we need to rest, recover and respond tomorrow morning in singles."

The Crimson Tide (13-0) continues to shatter records after the win on Friday, the Tide has now won 13-straight matches which is the longest win streak in program history. The previous longest win streak was back in 1976 when UA won 12-straight matches during the season.

The win also marks the first time the Tide has won an opening match in the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic since 2009 when UA defeated Middle Tennessee 4-0 on Mar. 19.

Alabama continued its streak of winning the doubles point to begin the day after sophomore Zhe Zhou and freshman Patrick Kaukovalta dominated Abdel-Aziz/Moninger, 6-1, while the No. 40-ranked sophomore duo of Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov defeated Russell/Eskeland, 6-4, to put the Tide up 1-0.

In singles play, Nesterov carried his momentum from doubles into his singles match, dominating Jared Aiman, 6-1, 6-1, to push the Alabama lead to 2-0. Sophomore Edson Ortiz remained undefeated in singles competition with his win over Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, 6-2, 6-4, giving UA the 3-0 advantage. Moments later, Zhou fell to Jacob Eskeland, 6-3, 6-3, but Cancel clinched the match with a 7-5, 6-3, straight-set victory over Sumit Sakar.

Against Arizona, the Tide used a comeback win from No. 34 Ortiz/Osama who defeated Karpovets/Hassey, 6-3, while No. 40 Cancel/Nesterov took care of Botha/Malbasic, 6-3 to clinch the doubles point for UA.

The Tide will return to action tomorrow morning to finish up singles play against Arizona at 10 a.m. in Lagoon Park. Alabama will play another match tomorrow afternoon following the match versus the Wildcats.

Alabama Results:

Singles:

Eric Rutledge vs. No. 113 Mazen Osama, 7-5, 4-3, unf.

Thibault Cancel def. Sumit Sarkar, 7-5, 6-3

Jacob Eskeland def. Zhe Zhou, 6-3, 6-3

Edson Ortiz def. Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, 6-3, 6-4

Riccardo Roberto vs. Conrad Russell, 7-6 (10-8), 2-1, unf.

Alexey Nesterov def. Jared Aiman, 6-1, 6-1

Order of Finish: 6, 4, 3, 2

Doubles vs. Rice:

No. 34 Ortiz/Osama vs. Sarkar/Rutledge, 5-4, unf.

No. 40 Cancel/Nesterov def. Russell/Eskeland, 6-4

Zhou/Kaukovalta def. Abdel-Aziz/Moninger, 6-1

Order of Finish: 3, 2

Doubles vs. Arizona:

No. 34 Ortiz/Osama def. Karpovets/Hassey, 6-3

No. 40 Cancel/Nesterov def. Botha/Malbasic, 6-3

Reguant/Maier vs. Zhou/Kaukovalta, 5-4, unf.

Order of Finish: 1, 2

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