Net News - April 5
4/5/2019 9:45:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Hello from Tuscaloosa,
Yes, home sweet home.  It has been a while since we were staring at a weekend homestand filled with match play.  In fact we haven't played a pair of matches at the UA Tennis Stadium since March 1 & 3.  So it will be nice to play under the lights once again on Friday night against the (Florida) Gators, followed by an afternoon affair with the (South Carolina) Gamecocks on Sunday.  The Crimson Racket Club will cook out on both days with FREE burgers and dogs hot off the grill manned by CRC treasurer and bbq master, David Ford.  We also will welcome former players at an Alumni tailgate on Friday prior to the Gator dual from 4-6pm in front of the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Indoor Tennis Facility and say "Hey!" to the Tuscaloosa Tennis Association on Sunday.  Neal Flum, Assistant Director of Athletic Bands and Director of Pep Bands for the University of Alabama, and The Million Dollar Band will provide spirited sounds at the Florida match to go along with the many "ALA! BAMA!" chants and cheers.  While the band opens the weekend, the Chamber Choir of the Alabama Choir School, directed by Artistic Director, Doff Procter, will kick off the action on Sunday at the South Carolina match.  Throw in a wedding on campus for former player and assistant coach Ricky Doverspike (Class of 2012), as well current player parents in town visiting, and it all adds up to a celebratory weekend. #ThatsBama
Last Friday and Sunday took us on a journey to the Peach State and Volunteer State for a pair of contests against traditional tennis powers, Georgia and Tennessee.  We came off a very good week of preparation and were ready to go when the ball was struck in Athens.  Doubles was extremely exciting and gave a large home crowd plenty to "oooh" and "ahhhh" about from start to finish.  Each match was very close with the slimmest of margins separating a one point lead for the Tide or the Dogs.  Edson Ortiz and Riccardo Roberto were first to strike gold with a gritty win on court 3.  As they slashed and dashed from side to side on their court, Alexey Nesterov and Zhe Zhou pounded serves and returns along with their opponents on court 2.  A late service break tied the score at 5-5, but UGA didn't back down from our offense and caught fire late to take the set 7-5.  All eyes, cheers, chants and "dawg" barks headed their way to court 1 where Patrick Kaukovalta and Mazen Osama earned a late serve break and used that momentum to push the inevitable doubles point outcome to a tiebreaker.  Our guys cheered as loud as they could to drown out the Georgia crowd and it sparked our team to a quick 3-0 lead.  We could sense that if we got this doubles point it could potentially have a huge impact on the home fans heading into singles.  The Dogs did not relent, however, and bursted out to a 6-4 lead.  Maz and PK clawed their way back into the deciding breaker and claimed a pair of match points.  UGA retaliated twice which stymied our quest for an ending that was similar to Tua Tagovailoa's TD pass in the 2018 National Championship game.  7-6, 7-7, 8-7, 8-8, 8-9, 9-9, 9-10, 9-11.  Rats!  While it was just a one point deficit, we had to clear that result from our memory and get our minds right heading into the singles portion.
Matches continued to be fairly close though Georgia jumped out to a 3-0 lead after wins on courts 1 & 6.  PK earned an impressive win on court 3, while Edson and Riccardo went up breaks 4-2 and 4-1 respectively in their third sets.  Zhe battled on court 5 and inched his way to a 3rd set after losing the first in a tiebreaker.  At 5-4, 40-15, Zhe had a shot to push things to a final frame but his opponent had other plans, as he held serve, broke serve and then closed out the match.  Double rats!  UGA 4, Bama 1.  This one stung as we were right there from start to finish.  Give Georgia credit for stepping up in big moments and securing the victory.  We had to hold our heads high and build on the result heading into the Tennessee tussle.  Â
After a lengthy, 6+ hour ride up to Knoxville thanks to a couple of accidents on the interstate, we had a lite hit indoors to prepare for a chilly and non-outdoor contest to take place on Sunday.  Indoor tennis on March 31?  I thought April Fool's Day arrived a day early but it did not as we woke up to even colder conditions.  The Knoxville Marathon was the first event of the day with the starting line conveniently (or non conveniently) located just behind our hotel.  So some of us woke up to a drumline at the crack of dawn along with "Rocky Top" being blasted throughout the city as the race began. Â
Our last match against the Volunteers came at the SEC Championships in April 2018.  It was a thrilling contest from start to finish that kept every fan and awaiting conference team glued to the action.  We saved 8 or 9 match points overall to win the doubles point last Spring, however, the effort this time around was unfortunately not so close.  We were not on point and the Vols took advantage and a quick 1-0 lead into singles.  They followed up that effort and snagged wins on courts 1 & 3 to push the lead to 3-0.  We were not done with our fight as Edson was up big and closed out his impressive victory on court 2.  Zhe and Jeremy were headed into third sets respectively and Riccardo came back with his focus on replicating his teammates' efforts.  The excitement grew as did the anticipation that this one could go the distance.  The crowd of orange stepped up their vocal support as Riccardo continued the slugfest with his opponent. Back and forth it went until Tennessee pulled away and closed out the match.  UT 4, Bama 1.  Another stinger followed by another playing of Rocky Top.  Oh boy.
We gathered our belongings, jumped back on the bus and headed south to Tuscaloosa.  It was a tough weekend that had glimpses of greatness, however, we couldn't quite put it all together at the right time.  Again, plenty to build on and improve as we headed into the final three matches of the conference season…all at home sweet home.  We knew the journey was not going to be an easy one with 9 matches played over a 4-week stretch on the road in five different cities and four states.  Be that as it may, thats's what all teams must prepare for in the SEC.  We've had an inspired week of training and are ready to wrestle the Gators and Gamecocks.  Bring your vocal chords, cheers, chants and appetites and join the fun for Bama's pluck n' grit have writ her name in Crimson flame.  Fight on, fight on, fight on, men!  See you at the courts.
Roll Tide,
George
Players Mentioned
