Alabama Set To Battle Tennessee In Second Round of SEC Tournament

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. –– The Alabama women's tennis team opens the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Thursday in a rematch against the Tennessee Volunteers after the two teams concluded the regular season against each other Sunday. The 10^th-seeded Crimson Tide and seventh-seeded Lady Vols will compete at 5 p.m. CT at Florida's Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.

The Match

Tennessee:
Date: Thursday, April 21
Time: 5 p.m. CT
Location: Gainesville, Fla.
Venue: Alfred. A. Ring Tennis Complex

How to Follow

Links to live scoring and video streams will be available at RollTide.com. Updates will be provided on the team's Twitter account, @AlabamaWTN

The SEC Tournament

After concluding the regular season Sunday against Tennessee, the two teams will go head-to-head Thursday in the second round of the SEC Tournament
Alabama enters the tournament as the 10^th seed with a 15-10 record on the season and 5-8 record in SEC play
Tennessee is the seventh seed and holds a 13-8 overall record and 7-6 record in league action
The SEC Tournament began Wednesday, April 20 at 11 a.m. CT and will run through Sunday, April 24 with the final match set to be played at 3:30 p.m. CT
Florida is hosting the women's tournament with matches being held at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex
The winner between Alabama and Tennessee will face second-seeded Auburn on Friday at 5 p.m. CT

A Look at Alabama

Alabama enters the weekend ranked 40^th in the latest ITA polls, released Wednesday, April 20
Petra Sedlackova and Loudmilla Bencheikh both moved up in singles rankings with Sedlackova pacing the team at No. 75 and Bencheikh coming in at No. 83
In doubles action, Anna Parkhomenko and Sedlackova lead the team, jumping into the rankings at No. 77
Sedlackova comes into the tournament strong, after taking a straight-set win over the then-25^th-ranked singles player in the country, Lea Ma from Georgia, and capturing the first set in an unfinished match against then-30^th ranked Rebeka Mertena from Tennessee
Ola Pitak led two unfinished matches against ranked opponents in her final four singles contests, beating then-64^th ranked Marlee Zein from Florida 6-4, 2-3, and then-52^nd ranked Tenika McGriffin from Tennessee 7-6 (7), 0-1

The Crimson Tide's Lasting Outing

Alabama split its final weekend at home, taking a huge upset win over then-No. 10 Georgia with a 4-3 victory, before falling 4-0 at home against then-No. 26 Tennessee
UA defeated the Bulldogs for the first time since 2015 and captured its first win over a top-10 program since that 5-2 win against No. 6 Georgia seven years ago
Despite Tennessee recording a 4-0 decision on Sunday, Alabama was leading on two courts and tied on a third when the match was clinched
Petra Sedlackova held a 6-3, 3-5 advantage against then-30^th ranked and Vol's No. 1 Rebeka Mertena, while Ola Pitak led then-52^nd ranked and No. 2 singles player Tenika McGriffin 7-6 (7), 0-1
Kasia Pitak split sets 6-2, 4-6 against Esther Adeshina on court five and was about to start a third set when the match was decided

The Lady Vols

Tennessee holds its ranking from last weekend, entering the conference tournament as the No. 26 team nationally
Rebeka Mertena paces the singles rankings at No. 34, while Tenika McGiffin ranks 60^th and Elza Tomase ranks 121^st
Daria Kuczer and McGiffin are ranked 17^th as a doubles pair while Esther Adeshina and Mertena rank 71^st
The Lady Volunteers split the final weekend of the regular season, suffering a 6-1 loss to then-No. 13 Auburn before its match against Alabama

Get the latest information on the team by following AlabamaWTN on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.

– UA –

University of Alabama Athletics