Hello Tide Tennis Fans,

We hit the road again for a tough pair of matches this week in Oxford, Miss., and Fayetteville, Ark. It’s the first of three Thursday-Saturday weekend matches which appear every other year on our conference schedule. Our match with Ole Miss is at 3 p.m. CT on Thursday and we’ll face Arkansas on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT. Both the Rebels and Razorbacks are very tough to play in their house but I’m confident our guys will give it their best effort as they did last weekend.

What an amazing SEC home opener last Friday night against Georgia. Stands were filled, the Million Dollar Band performed, staff and students from The Capstone International office were in attendance and our match with the Bulldogs came down to the wire, four hours after the first serve was struck.

The doubles point set the tone for the evening’s main event. Damien (Nezar) and Andrii (Zimnokh) kept their unblemished conference record nice and shiny as they disposed of their opponents quickly on court two. Georgia responded with a win on court three and it all came down to the top position. Filip (Planinsek) and Matic (Kriznik) had several break-point opportunities early in their set, however, they were unable to capitalize and found themselves in a tight breaker. They forged ahead a mini-break at 4-2, but the bark and bite from the Dawgs remained strong. After a couple of unlucky points, our Slovenian doubles duo fell 9-7 and pushed Georgia ahead 1-0.

We knew it was critical, however the small lead didn’t phase us. The Bulldogs did capture the first singles match on court two to make the score 2-0 UGA, but the crimson and white came rolling back. Matic responded with a resounding, straight set win on court five, while the “king” Filip and “beast” Matias (Ponce De Leon) produced impressive wins of their own to push the score to 3-2 Alabama. Andrii was up a break in his third set while Carlos (Gimenez Perez) was battling to win the second and force a third. The action went back-and-forth on court four with the Tide falling short 6-4 in the final frame to even the overall score to 3-3.

Carlos stormed back to capture the second set which created more excitement and some nerves too. All the Bama Tennis faithful had moved down to the seats above court six and to witness the conclusion of this thriller. Our transfer from Alicante, Spain, was straight-up battling. His teammates lined up beside his court and cheered point after point. “Let’s Go Carlos!”, “Let’s Go Bama!”, “ALA! BAMA!” and “ROLLLLLLLL TIDE ROLL!” were shouted over and over and over again while the Dawgs answered with plenty of barking. After going up one break in the third, Carlos added another break to go up 5-2. He could see the finish line ahead as he would have a chance to serve it out. On his first match point at 40-15, his opponent ran Carlos from corner to corner, but our big Spaniard stayed alive with a couple of defensive backhands. After a swinging volley error, Carlos had won the match to the excitement of his teammates, coaches and fans that had endured the four-plus hour marathon. Alabama 4, Georgia 3.  Match Bama!

The evening ended with plenty of smiles, a lot of hugs and high fives and a celebratory locker room showering of Carlos with filled water bottles. What a night and finish. So much fun but the celebrating couldn’t continue too long as we faced Vanderbilt on Sunday.

The sun was shining, and the guys were ready to go. The Commodores had always been a tricky team to play. We could never underestimate them under any circumstances. We had annual close matches with them, and I knew after Friday’s emotional Georgia win, we’d be challenged all afternoon. Our hero from Friday, “Carlito”, got an extra day off to recover and Zach (Foster) returned to the singles lineup.  We also had a familiar pair of Alabama competitors debuted in doubles – Enzo (Aguiard) and Zach. Our senior from Melbourne, Australia, had spent the last five weeks recovering from an injury. Great to see him on court competing again. He had spent his rehab period on the sideline cheering on his teammates in practice and matches which had an indelible effect on our team’s competitive spirit.  While the match with his senior buddy went unfinished (4-5 on serve), his presence was noteworthy. Team Slovenia (Filip & Matic) captured their doubles match while Damien and Andrii once again cleaned up at two and secured the opening point of the match.  Point Bama!

Singles had a fantastic start with opening sets won on four of the six singles courts. I was a little concerned about a dip in our intensity as we headed into second sets and was quasi-tempted to disconnect the scoreboard. The focus remained high, however, and so did our resolve. Filip won his 10th consecutive match without a loss while Roan and Matias did the same on courts two and three. I was really impressed by Roan’s response after a tough Friday night. He remained calm and strong from start to finish as did our junior from Mallorca, “La Bestia” Matias. The pair’s wins pushed the score to Alabama 4, Vanderbilt 0, and the match was stopped. We typically play out the matches but due to a quick turnaround this week (with Wednesday travel and Thursday/Saturday match days), both coaches agreed to suspend play when the match was clinched. Match Bama!  Roll Tide!

So, the brooms were out and a sweep was well earned. Impressive and fun to say the least after a tough road trip to South Carolina and Florida. The guys put in a super effort, and I was really happy to see all of them so happy. Our roster is almost fully healthy, and we’ll keep working hard to get everyone back physically at 100%. We’re now away for the first of two straight weekends before we return home to host five of our final six conference matches.  So, jump aboard with us as it takes a village, and we love competing in Tuscaloosa.  Nothing better.

Upcoming home matches will be Thursday, March 20 vs. Tennessee and Saturday, March 22 vs. Kentucky. The Crimson Racket Club will host their first of two FREE cookouts with freshly grilled burgers and hot dogs on March 22 (Cookout number 2 is scheduled for Senior Day, April 13 vs. Mississippi State). Until next time, “O-Lay, O-Lay, O-Lay, O-Lay, ALA! BAMA!”

Roll Tide,

George