Alabama
University of Washington
Alabama Women’s Tennis Travels to Seattle for Three-Match Road Swing
2/8/2018 12:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis
The Crimson Tide will face Washington on Friday, and will follow with a doubleheader against Portland and Eastern Washington
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama women's tennis team will embark on a three-match road swing in Seattle, Wash. this weekend at the Nordstrom Tennis Stadium. The Crimson Tide will face it first top-25 ranked opponent in 24th-ranked Washington on Friday, Feb. 9 at 3 p.m. CT, and will follow with a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 10 against Portland (Noon) and Eastern Washington University (7 p.m.).
LAST TIME ON THE COURT
The Crimson Tide (9-0) turned in another outstanding weekend, going 2-0 after trouncing Chattanooga and Alabama A&M in Saturday's doubleheader.
In the morning match against the Mocs (2-1), the Crimson Tide shot out to an early 1-0 lead after sweeping all three doubles matches and followed by winning five out of the six singles matches for the 6-1 victory.
In the night cap, the Crimson Tide dominated Alabama A&M (0-1) in both doubles and singles play to complete the 7-0 sweep. Alabama's victory over the Bulldogs marked the sixth shutout win of the season.
CRIMSON TIDE NOTABLES
Junior Andie Daniell continues to dominate the field, as she defeated her 11th-straight singles opponent since the fall season, while remaining undefeated in doubles play with sophomore Ann Selim since the start of the 2017-18 campaign (8-0). Daniell is currently 8-0 in singles play at the No. 1 position since the start of the 2018 spring campaign.
IN THE RANKINGS
After starting the 2018 season with its best start since 2009, the Alabama women's tennis team received votes in the Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Women's Division I National Team Rankings on Jan. 31, as announced by the association.
SERVING UP 2018
Alabama opened its 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. 89 in the latest ITA rankings (Feb. 7).
Daniell opened the fall season ranked at No. 37 on the ITA preseason list and finished fall play, 9-2, defeating one ranked opponent (No. 45 Lindsey Hodge, Rice University), 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.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT – WASHINGTON
Friday's match will mark the fourth meeting between the Crimson Tide and the Huskies, with the Dawgs holding the 2-1 advantage over Alabama. In the last meeting, UW edged the Tide, 4-3, on Jan. 21, 2017.
Washington enters Friday's contest with a 4-2 record with wins over then-No. 20 LSU, Hawaii, Fresno State and Denver, while falling to No. 8 Texas Tech and No. 9 Duke.
After a big showing at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Kick-off Weekend, the Huskies got into the ITA top-25 rankings on Jan. 31, sneaking in at No. 24. It was the first time UW has been ranked in the top 25 since the March 7 ITA poll where the Dawgs got in at No. 25. Individually, No. 11 Stacey Fung (12-3) received the Pac-12 Player of the Week nod after her three-set match victory against then-No. 20 LSU to clinch the upset.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT – PORTLAND
Saturday will mark the first meeting in program history between Portland and the Crimson Tide.
The Pilots enter Saturday's competition with a 1-2 mark with a recent win over Portland State, 6-1, and losses to Oregon, 5-2, and UC Davis, 5-2.
Portland features a young roster including four freshmen, three sophomores and a junior. Furthermore, the Pilots were picked to finish eighth in the West Coast Conference Preseason Poll as voted on by the league's head coaches.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT – EASTERN WASHINGTON
Saturday will mark the first meeting in program history between the Eagles and the Crimson Tide.
EWU enters Saturday's contest with at 2-0 record, after shutting out Pacific Lutheran University, 7-0, in its home opener, and defeating Seattle, 5-2.
The Eagles were picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky Conference after finishing with a 5-15 overall record and a 3-8 mark in conference play last year. Furthermore, EWU welcomes three freshmen to 2018, as well as seven returners.
SEC PRESEASON POLL
The Crimson Tide was picked to finish 13th in the league as the conference coaches chose the Georgia Bulldogs to win it all on Jan. 24.
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 were named to the ITA Collegiate All-Star Team, while Pothoff also earned First Team All-SEC honors.
COMING UP
Alabama will compete in Montgomery, Ala. on Feb. 23-24 at the annual Blue Gray National Tennis Classic.
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
