NET NEWS, VOLUME 2
10/1/2021 8:48:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Hello from Starkville!
We left Tuscaloosa Thursday and drove west in our mini-vans along US Highway 82 bound for the Magnolia State, aka Mississippi. Our Southeastern Conference partners host the MSU Bulldog Invitational, a three-day event featuring Bulldogs (Mississippi State), Wolverines (Michigan), a Green Wave (Tulane) and, the one and only according to former athletic director Mal Moore, Crimson Tide. The format will be similar to our Four-In-The-Fall. Each team will face players from an opposing school with doubles and singles being contested just like a regular dual match, but in this case, it's known as a mock dual. There will be no team result but rather each individual singles and doubles result will count and impact a player's individual record and ranking. This marks the first road trip of our young season for our youthful Bama bunch and as one freshman (Filip Planinsek) stated last night at dinner, "this is big, because we're all together playing on the road for the first time." We square off against Michigan on Friday at 11 a.m., Tulane on Saturday at 10 a.m. (plenty of time to watch Bama FB vs. Ole Miss in the afternoon) and wrap up the weekend against our host, Hail State, on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Invitational will provide plenty of challenges and opportunities as each school has been nationally ranked in the Top 10-20 window over the past few seasons. This will mark our first of three trips to Starkville…yes three…as we will also compete here in the ITA Kickoff (January 29-30) and an SEC contest (March 25). So we will have our fill of maroon and white. All matches this weekend will be streamed live with video and stats via links at www.rolltide.com.
The Alabama Four-In-The-Fall was a solid start to our fall as LSU, Memphis and Princeton brought their squads to Tuscaloosa for our season opener a couple of weeks ago. It was great to have former Bama head coach, Billy Pate, back on campus as his love for T-Town has not wavered, nor has his affinity for checking out the new local eateries. Mother Nature provided a little wet weather that altered the starting time for the first two days; however, we were able to stay on schedule with matches being played at the R.A.B. (Roberta Alison Baumgardner Indoor Tennis Facility). So grateful to never miss a minute of tennis with a beautiful outdoor and indoor facility. Highlights from the weekend included a stunning sweep in doubles against Memphis to open the event on day one as the blood was pumping and the guys were on point from start to finish. Speaking of "Finnish", our Flying Finn, senior Patrick Kaukovalta went undefeated in both singles and doubles (with freshman German Samofalov) on the weekend. Newcomers Filip Planinsek, Enzo Aguiard and Joao Ferreira won all of their singles contests, while freshman Zach Foster recorded an impressive and unique statistic. He played seven sets in the tournament losing a tight three-setter on day one and then scored two consecutive wins. In the five sets he won, Foster did not drop a game, as his stat line read 4-6, 6-0, 4-6 on day one, 6-0, 6-0 on day two and 6-0, 6-0 on day three. Holy bagels! You don't see results like this often. Coming off of last year's controlled and limited attendance, it was a blast to be back on court competing in front of fans. We got to see some familiar faces once again and their support over the course of the tournament was invaluable. The fans' enthusiasm, couple with that of our players, provided for some impressive performances and notable numbers. Overall the "Next Wave of Bama Tennis" went 18-5 in singles and 6-5 in doubles. More work to be done in practice and plenty more matches to be played.Â
Speaking of matches, be sure to check out our season schedule for the remainder of the fall semester and upcoming spring campaign by clicking here . We have a pair of tournaments on the road in mid-October (Auburn, Ala.) and early November (Orlando, Fla.) for you to see the "Next Wave" in action, as well as plenty of great opportunities for you to catch the Crimson Tide indoors and outdoors in 2022. On the "more work" end of things, the Crimson Racket Club is back and online membership registration is now live at www.crimsonracketclub.org. The official booster club of Alabama Tennis, the CRC, is an excellent way to integrate current men's and women's tennis student-athletes with the Tuscaloosa community and beyond. The club provides a greater following of Alabama Tennis and a fantastic opportunity for fans and players to continue the growth and advancement of the tennis programs. In addition to connecting with our tennis programs in person, you can follow our men's program online via the following social media outlets – Facebook (Alabama Men's Tennis & George Husack pages), Twitter (@AlabamaMTN, @UACoachHusack) and Instagram (AlabamaMTN, UACoachHusack). Thanks to my kids' encouragement, we've gotten our feet wet in the TikTok world as well at bama10s. A couple of videos are posted there but it's still a work in progress. Bottom line, my kids know that world a lot better than I do. Our media relations office plans on having a full week of scoop and insights via social media that will not only include tournament and match updates but also player focused days (Takeover Tuesdays), #DYK (Did You Know) features, #TBT (Throwback Thursdays) and much more. To watch a short video feature on our team's multinational make-up, click here.
So stay tuned and we look forward to continue our journey this season with all of you.
Roll Tide!
George
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