2021 NET NEWS, Volume Four
2/11/2021 9:20:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Happy Valentine's & Presidents' Day Weekend,
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, was established by Pope Gelasius in 496 AD to be celebrated on February 14 in honor of Saint Valentine of Rome. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the "lovebirds" of early spring. On the other hand, Presidents' Day was established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington. The holiday became popularly known as Presidents' Day after it was moved as part of 1971's Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation's workers. Great idea, but no matter how much love is in the air this weekend, University of Alabama students are not off on Presidents' Day nor is the men's tennis team as we practice and compete this weekend. The plan is to be outdoors, however, the turbulent and unpredictable forecast has made for some indoor plans too. We are scheduled to host Tennessee Tech on Saturday at 1 pm and 5 pm. If you're a James Spann follower like me, we will most likely be inside the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility and unfortunately not play in front of fans. If you're an optimist like me, you'll plan for outdoor matches in front of a packed house and be prepared for a switch to indoors if needed. One thing I do know is that we are playing rain or shine even if the groundhog saw his shadow earlier this month which means six more weeks of wintry weather.
Last time out we faced a stiff challenge from both Tulane and Chattanooga. The Green Wave pushed our backs against the wall in the first dual with determination and drive. Our shots during the doubles portion and the start of singles simply did not find the court. We were down 0-1 after doubles and quickly faced a deficit in many singles matches. The guys did not panic however, and as Alabama women's head coach Jenny Mainz would say, "little by little" we inched our way back into the match. Gabi, Jeremy and Zhe pushed us ahead 3-1 with three close matches remaining on court. There was an intense 3-setter and a little back story on court #3 where Edson faced a familiar foe in Luis Erlenbusch. These two squared off against one another in May 2018 at the NCAA Regional Championships in Tallahassee, Florida. El Toro prevailed in that contest which clinched the win for us and created the momentum to win the regional the following day against Florida State. I'm not sure if Luis or Edson were thinking about that during their battle this year but I would bet they had a brief time lapse moment to that day before starting their battle. After playing a tough and near flawless second set tiebreaker to force a third set, Edson grabbed a service break early in the final frame. He had a couple of match points at 5-3 but his Green Wave opponent held serve to put the match on our graduate student's racket. Serving out a tight match is no easy task but if you look at Edson's career, you'll find many moments where he has been in this situation and relished the opportunity. So, he went out swinging and trusting his shots and competitive ability. He faced two break points, erased them both and clinched the Crimson Tide victory with a powerful serve plus forehand winner on the sudden-death deuce point. He fell to his knees, his teammates ran to court and he then yelled, "Match Bama!" in his typical, Toro way. Vamos!
The Mocs of Chattanooga watched the end of our Tulane contest and knew we had to be physically, emotionally and mentally impacted by that match. They came out full steam ahead in doubles, fearless and without any hesitation. Each doubles match was tight and could have gone either way. Avi and Alexey won their match 7-6 while Zhe and Gabi dropped theirs 7-5. It came down to a tiebreaker on court 1 with Marcelo and Patrick prevailing 7-5 to push us ahead 1-0. That was a very good test of our ability to stay mentally engaged and not get wrapped up in the emotions of the tug-of-war but rather welcome the challenge ahead of us.
Singles play began and the guys continued to respond positively with Jeremy, Vincent, Gabi, Alexey and Rudi coming away victorious in a 6-1 victory and doubleheader sweep. Match Bama!
We have since moved outdoors for practices and begun preparation for our SEC season which is just around the corner (January 19-21 at Florida and South Carolina). The ball is bouncing higher and moving through the court a little slower than indoors which I feel our squad prefers. It takes some time to get used to the new surroundings, however this older and more veteran squad has been to this rodeo before. They know the drill and welcome the fresh air and challenges that lie ahead. Like many of you, we've enjoyed some warm weather and incredible sunsets but we're not quite out of the wet and colder weather pattern yet. So, stay dialed into our season and weather updates, especially this weekend.
As I mentioned earlier, we host perennial Ohio Valley Conference champions, Tennessee Tech, on Saturday at 1 pm and 5 pm. Bring your Valentine to the courts if Mother Nature keeps the rain away or snuggle up with your Valentine at home and watch us via live stream at RollTide.com.
Enjoy your Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend and we will see you soon at the courts no matter what the groundhog saw back on February 2.
Roll Tide!
George
George Husack
Head Men's Tennis Coach
The University of Alabama
