2021 NET NEWS, Volume 5
2/19/2021 12:24:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Roll Tide Everyone!
Greetings from the highway as the Crimson Tide travel to Gainesville and Columbia this weekend to kick off our SEC season. Conference play is starting a couple of weeks earlier than usual after both the men's and women's coaches decided to make the change during the holiday break. The main reason for this audible was to build in a pair of bye weekends that would allow for make-up matches to take place if they were postponed due to any COVID related issues. So the process which began months ago and involved many hours of Zooming, texting, discussing, questioning and ultimately deciding is beginning. Thank you to the SEC office and tennis liaisons, as well as Alabama women's head coach Jenny Mainz and South Carolina men's coach Josh Goffi, for their countless hours of tireless work that led to a plan providing the best way to compete safely this spring.
How about that weather pattern? Crazy times in our town as well as our country as Mother Nature rolled out a smorgasbord of climate changes these last couple of weeks. One day we were applying sun block and then the next day we had tights on. Umbrellas were opened (outside of course), sunglasses required to stave off the sun, heaters turned up, snow falling all over Tuscaloosa much to the delight of many children (including my own) and plenty of beautiful sunsets with clear skies at the end of the day. Talk about variety and the new normal.
One thing that stayed constant was another good day of competition for our team as we hosted perennial Ohio Valley conference champion Tennessee Tech last Saturday. We had hoped for outdoor play to prepare us for our opening SEC weekend, but frigid weather kept us inside which wasn't a bad alternative. Our guys were ready to compete again after several days of training and nearly two weeks off from dual match play. The Golden Eagles hadn't competed in some time as well so we benefited from being at home and a little sharper than our opponents.
Patrick "Flying Finn" Kaukovalta served big and backed those strokes up with an aggressive baseline and transition game. He completed the day with a 4-0 record winning two doubles and an equal amount in singles. Jeremy "Romeo" Gschwendtner added to his team leading singles victories with win #15 on the year while Vincent "Pocket Rockets" Rettke scored a pair of aces with wins #12 and #13 respectively. Gabriel "Cowboy" Diaz Freire kept his unbeaten dual match streak alive, while January newcomer, Rudi "Speedy Gonzalez" Christiansen, added to his stellar start to 2021. Overall the guys were focused from the start and executed very well throughout the day. Doubleheader days are taxing, revealing and necessary. They provide opportunities for many of the players to compete and also provide more data points of what each player is doing well, could improve upon and where we are as a team. Win or lose, we always work and strive to be better…#ProgressWithTheProcess.
So now we're on the road, this time via the comforts of a touring bus (thank you Cline Tours). We will have plenty of time to stretch out our legs, rest our eyes, get some work done and prepare for the weekend ahead. We are repeating last spring's schedule so returning to Gainesville and Columbia won't be new for many of us. One of the team's favorite restaurants, Bento, is located just below our first hotel so we are ready for multiple trips to this hidden gem while in town. Last season the Gators proved better than us on court, but we rebounded and responded with an impressive win against the Gamecocks on Sunday. Alexey Nesterov clinched the match that day in a 3-set thriller and was later rewarded with a water bottle shower in our locker room and a feast at Cookout.
We're excited for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead of us this Spring. While the weather forecast calls for very warm temps on Thursday, we may play indoors on Friday in an ironic twist as the forecast calls for rain. Sunny skies will follow us to Columbia but so too will chilly temps for Sunday's affair. In any event, we can compete with both teams, but must compete in order to be successful. I have great belief in this group for what they have shown themselves and each of us since we began this journey last fall and continued this past January.
So tune in from home as both matches will be available via live stream at 5pm EST against Florida on Friday and 12pm EST against South Carolina on Sunday. Then let's pray for sunshine next weekend as we host our first SEC weekend against Kentucky at 6pm on Friday and 1pm Sunday versus Vanderbilt. Fans will be allowed outside and we can't wait to see the familiar faces in the crowd and hear your cheers of support.
Until next time, stay safe, warm, cool and as always…
Roll Tide,
George
George Husack
Head Men's Tennis Coach
The University of Alabama
