2021 NET NEWS, Volume Two

Greetings from Raleigh, North Carolina,

In 1968, "Carolina In My Mind" appeared on singer-songwriter James Taylor's self-titled debut album. Two weeks into the 2021 season we find ourselves humming this unofficial state anthem as we compete in the ITA Kickoff Weekend (KOW) at North Carolina State. The KOW is a qualifying event for the ITA National Team Indoors and typically has 15 regional sites, with four teams competing at each site for one bid to nationals. The host sites are based on end-of-year rankings from the prior season and the Wolfpack of N.C. State came in at #6 at the time Covid canceled everything last spring. With the pandemic impacting several campuses and their ability to host the event, the fields for KOW and National Team Indoor were cut in half. So, this year, there are seven qualifying sites for a trip to the now eight-team tournament which will be held over President's Day/Valentine's Day weekend in February at the University of Illinois. As host, the Illini received wild card entry to the Team Indoor which is why there are seven tournament sites. So, we are in hot pursuit of this opportunity and have a goal to be a "Steamroller" (another James Taylor hit) from start to finish.

Last weekend the 2021 campaign began with a pair of doubleheaders at home inside the friendly and unfortunately empty Roberta Alison Baumgardner Indoor Tennis Facility. We are grateful for the opportunity to compete this year, but it certainly was a different feel not having fans present at the matches. This policy will continue for all home indoor matches through our Feb. 7 match with Louisville. We will then compete outdoors and allow fans upstairs above the courts as we have in the past. An exciting twist will be the fact that the first match scheduled for outdoors is our SEC opener and the Wildcats of Kentucky will again return to Tuscaloosa for Friday Night Lights at 6 pm.

Back to last weekend as we hosted Samford on Saturday and North Alabama on Sunday. Both programs were not new to us, but it had been some time since we saw their players on the other side of the net, as our fall season was limited to SEC-only events. Samford coach Rahim Esmail brought his gritty Bulldogs down the interstate and his roster included several new faces that certainly pushed us in our duals. Coach Bishop and his UNA Lions also had some new faces that competed their tails off as always. The end result for us was a weekend sweep of matches, however, plenty of things for the team and coaching staff to improve. In many points we looked very sure of our on-court plan to deliver discomfort to our opponents, but there were also moments where we looked like fish out of water, bouncing from side to side and in search of a plunge back into the depths of competition. We had faced the Longhorns in a series of very competitive individual matches a week prior to these doubleheaders so the 'Return to the R.A.B. (Robert Alison Baumgardner Indoor Tennis Facility)' wasn't a new experience. The anticipation, excitement and anxiety of dual matches, however, can have a range of different intensity levels so the "comfortable discomfort" seemed natural, necessary and normal. In the end and on the stat sheet, all players recorded their first victories of the spring season, and as former Alabama football coach Bear Bryant said, "winning isn't everything, but it beats anything that comes in second."

While fans were not allowed indoors, there was a very familiar voice overheard on the sound system as PA announcer and the voice of Alabama men's tennis, Alan 'Mr. C' Cunningham, was on the mic. We love Alan's enthusiasm and his voice has certainly had an indelible impact on our players' and fans' match experience. He had his player nicknames ready to go including a few new ones for our newest Bama ballers. Here's a full listing of Alan's Crimson Tide roster:

Rudi "Speedy Gonzalez" Christiansen
Gabriel "The Cowboy" Diaz Freire
Sam "Straight Fire" Fischer
Jeremy "Romeo" Gschwendtner
Patrick "Flying Finn" Kaukovalta
Alexey "The Hammer" Nesterov
Edson "El Toro" Ortiz
Vincent "Pocket Rockets" Rettke
Riccardo "Big Train" Roberto…though there might be a switch to "Rise & Shine"
Marcelo "El Gusano" Sepulveda Garza
Avi "The Cannon" Shugar
Zhe "Big Z" Zhou…with Zhe & Zhou pronounced correctly in Mandarin Chinese.

While Alan and the rest of you aren't on the road with us in Raleigh, there will be an opportunity to follow us online on the Andy Andrews indoor courts at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center… Isenhour was the men's tennis coach from 1968-1981 and also coached the Wolfpack women for three seasons.

Live stats and live streams are available at www.gopack.com. So brew some good coffee, fry up some eggs and crispy bacon and cheer on the Tide Friday morning. Saturday match's first serve is TBD based on Friday results but will be posted at www.rolltide.com. Following KOW we return home for our third and final doubleheader of the year on Friday, January 29 with Tulane at 1 pm and UT Chattanooga at 6 pm. We haven't clashed with the Green Wave since our NCAA Regional run in 2018 and they have a very good team this season. At 6 pm we will face the Mocs who we've played the last few seasons and they are straight up tough. So, challenges are ahead, but for now, it is all about Kickoff and Carolina On Our Minds.

Roll Tide,
George

Head Coach George Husack
Head Men's Tennis Coach
The University of Alabama

University of Alabama Athletics

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