2021 NET NEWS, Volume 9
3/19/2021 11:08:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Happy Spring Break!
A week off from school for many, including my own kids, except The University of Alabama. We adjusted our spring semester schedule before the holidays which provided twelve days between New Year's Day and initial classroom meetings. This decision was made to mitigate risks associated with travel, and in turn, eliminated this week being off from teaching, learning and relaxing. That said, I've only had one Spring Break in my 26 years of college coaching and that happened last March for reasons we all know about. Our season has played through any sort of break from January thru May so it's pretty much business as usual for us. Speaking of which, it's back to business this Friday and Sunday as we have another pair of home matches that come with a little twist. Rather than compete against the usual suspects, this will be the first of two SEC bye weekends which were put in place this season in case there were any make-up conference matches needed due to COVID-19 interruptions and cancelations. Lucky for us. there weren't any, so we have kept our competitive juices flowing and filled the weekend with two match-ups against tough non-conference customers. Middle Tennessee State and Memphis will travel down the highway from the Volunteer state to face us on Friday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Both the (MTSU) Blue Raiders and (Memphis) Tigers have had successful seasons thus far and notched wins against SEC opponents in Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Arkansas, as well as couple other notables in Notre Dame and Iowa. So we have our hands full, which is exactly what we want to continue building our games, mindset and ability to finish.
Last weekend was a tough one, and while we created many opportunities both against Georgia and Tennessee, our visitors got their hands in the cookie jar and left Tuscaloosa with victories. A balmy 75 degree evening under the lights, Friday saw an exciting doubles point and plenty of singles matches go the distance. Riccardo and Patrick got us rolling with a convincing win on court #1, defeating former US Open junior doubles semifinalist, Trent Bryde, and his partner Tyler Zink who won the US Open junior doubles crown in 2019. After the Dawgs evened things with a victory on court #2, Edson and Alexey broke their opponents at 4-5 to the delight of the home crowd. They then used the momentum to ultimately force a deciding tiebreaker and came away with a 7-2 finish. Point Bama, Roll Tide!
We headed into singles and it was a back-and-forth affair. Edson struck first with his fourth-consecutive win over the aforementioned Zink, but then UGA rebounded with wins on courts #1 & #3 to even up the score 2-2. Gabi, Alexey and Riccardo all won their respective second sets to push their battles to a final frame. Cheers hollered, tension built and some nervous moments crept into the scene. We seemed to be in a familiar setting so experience said we were ready for the challenge. The Bulldogs were also ready and gutted out two of the three final sets sneaking out of town with a narrow 4-3 victory. There wasn't much time to fret over this result as we had Tennessee next on Sunday.
The Volunteers came into our match winners of all conference contests with the exception of one and held a #4 national ranking. We had faced them in the fall at the Bulldog Challenge and were prepared for another opportunity. Zhe and Gabi chalked up a victory on court #2 to inch us closer to the doubles point. The Vols responded with a win on court #1 which led to a tug-of-war on court #3…ironically the same court where a similarly exciting doubles point was decided between the crimson and orange in April 2018 at the SEC Championships. Alexey and Edson again broke their opponents at 4-5 and earned match points at 6-5. Tennessee served their way out of that pickle and onto the tiebreaker we went. Mini-break here, serve and poach there, return down on the ground and cross with reflex volleys on display too. We had a few more match points in our favor to give us the 1-0 lead, but unlike the outcome in 2018, it was the Volunteers who recorded the 11-9 breaker victory.
Despite the outcome of the doubles we responded in singles under a warm March sun. We seemed a bit drained from the emotion and result of the doubles point but moved forward. Patrick scored a quick and convincing win on court #3 to even the score. While the Vols had the advantage on a few courts, Alexey and Gabi were in the thick of things. We certainly pushed our opponents and created more opportunities. Tennessee was tough, however, and proved too strong on this day. A challenging weekend overall but that's what they all are. So whether you get knocked down or knock someone out, the key is how we respond to these moments. And as Confucius would say, "our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
So that's what we did Monday with our match recovery and continued on Tuesday with practice. Our Wednesday was a little interrupted by the storms but we returned Thursday for a quality late afternoon practice under the lights. We're ready for the weekend and all that it presents. Join us for an earlier start to Friday Night Lights at 4pm against MTSU and a Sunday Funday at 1pm against Memphis. As always you can keep up with all the action online at rolltide.com. We appreciate your continued support and shall see you out there.
Roll Tide,
George
George Husack
Head Men's Tennis Coach
The University of Alabama
