Net News - March 9
3/9/2018 9:59:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Roll Tide from Baton Rouge as Alabama has taken to the road and face LSU in our sole match of the weekend. Â The Battle in the Bayou is scheduled for outdoors at the new LSU Tennis Complex, an impressive 12-court outdoor and 6-court indoor facility that opened for business in 2015. Â We competed here in Spring 2016 as well as this past fall at the ITA Regional Championships. Â Since October the facility has added a healthy dose of purple and gold graphics, logos and, of course, Tigers. Â We are excited to return to SEC action and the first serve will be struck at 4pm with live streaming via PlaySight and live scoring available for our fans back in Tuscaloosa and around the US & world. Â
Last weekend was a battle of will and heart.  We hosted two strong opponents in Vanderbilt and Kentucky, as well as welcomed many fans to our outdoor tennis stadium.  Our SEC opener on Friday night was filled with determination, come-from-behind grit and down-to-the-wire results.  And let's not forget about the savory smells from the Crimson Racket Club grill manned by CRC Treasurer and cookout extraordinaire, David Ford.  The grill master cooked up 160 hamburgers, 80 hot dogs and 20 lbs. of catfish.  The event was a sell out.  Many thanks to Big D, CRC members that volunteered their time (personal shout out to my neighbor and friend Colin Martin), and the Civinettes, one of the few all-female high school service organizations in Tuscaloosa, all of which helped serve the Bama faithful.  Roll Tide!
It was our team's first experience under the "Friday Night Lights" and the air was a little chillier than normal. Â But then again has the weather been normal anywhere? Â We started off slow in the doubles frame and dropped our first point of the season. Â As we headed into singles we felt confident about our match-ups, ability and fight. Â I'm sure the Commodores felt the same as they jumped out to first set leads on all six courts. Â A large portion of our crowd departed into the evening most likely with the assumption that it would be an early night for the home team as we trailed 3-0. Â The guys remaining on court, however, had a different plan and pushed hard with their feet on the gas pedal and several teammates yelling, screaming and supporting. Alexey Nesterov was the first one put a Bama point on the scoreboard with a come-from-behind win over his Vandy opponent who was undefeated on the season. Â Edson Ortiz was next with a resounding 3-set victory, a half-dozen fist pumps and a passionate Point Bama! Roll Tide! Â On court #1, Mazen rallied from a set and double-break down, not to mention he staved off elimination on two match/match points in a second set tiebreaker and captured the Tide's 3rd point of the night. Â Things had certainly become interesting and the Vandy bus which had started its engines a couple of hours earlier was still parked in the lot adjacent to the courts. Â All eyes, cheers and focus turned to court #2 and Thibault Cancel. Â He had just won a second-set tiebreaker to force a third and deciding frame. Â Vandy jumped out to a quick break but not before Thibault fought back with impressive rallies, out-of-the-corner defense and attacking transition play. Â There was some 24K Magic in the air and we'd push our opponent to the limit for a second straight dual match. Â In the end it was the visiting Commodores, however, that tallied the final point and our gritty comeback fell just a bit short. Â It was a tremendous tennis match, and again, an even better teaching moment for our team. Â I praised them in the locker room and we left the facility holding our heads high.
Sunday afternoon brought the Wildcats to the courts under sunny skies and festive fanfare. Â It was Bama Tennis Kids Day with Big Al in attendance, a bounce house on site, cheese and pepperoni pizza on the menu (a kid's favorite) and goodie bags filled with posters, schedule magnets, roller banners, Bama bracelets and "squishees". Â There were 75 giveaways when the gates opened and none when the match was over so plenty of kids were in the house for the match. Â Many thanks to our friends at Rock Quarry & Verner Elementary, ACA (American Christian Academy) & Brookwood Middle School and Confetti Interiors that helped get the word out to our community about the festive day. Â Roll Tide! Â
Our history with Kentucky over the past couple of seasons had been filled with tight matches and 4-3 outcomes. Â In 2016 the Wildcats came to Tuscaloosa and left with a win. Â Last Spring, Bama left Lexington with a similar tight victory of our own. Â As was true with previous contests, matches were tightly contested and the doubles point came down to a tiebreaker won by our visitors. Â Edson and Mazen served up a quick win on court #1 while Riccardo and Zhe fell on court #3. Â Alexey and Thibault had one match point at 7-6 in the TB, but a tough serve and missed return ultimately gave way to a 9-7 victory and a 1-0 lead for UK. Â Onward to singles where the margin for error was low and the scores followed suit. Â A couple late breaks here, a tiebreaker there, a 3-setter over here, and unfortunately, a match clinching win for the Wildcats down there. Â We had some valiant efforts but Friday night's "Battle Royale" definitely impacted the strut in our stride. Â Again a tremendous effort by the guys throughout the weekend which I'm confident will help us as we tread deeper into the conference season.
We had a solid week of training and face the Tigers on their turf.  The matches with our Bayou buddies over the past several years have been very close and I expect much of the same when we hit the first serve on Friday afternoon.  Our guys have earned some quality experience these past couple of weeks – the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the human drama of athletic competition…thank you Jim McKay…we are ready, we are Bama.
Roll Tide,
George
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