Hello from Bama Tennis,

Never been a better feeling than to pull off Exit 73 on Interstate 20/59 and head up McFarland Boulevard towards campus this past Monday morning. The sun was shining, the sky was clear and it was the start of a new day, a day later than expected. When you combine mechanical problems and bad weather you’re bound to have an interesting journey home and that’s exactly what we had coming back from Tulsa. Add in a few delays, a missed connection flight, an overnight stay, a 5-hour nap and a couple of airport meal vouchers, you end up with a group of 12 people saying “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” A longer trip that had a few silver linings – a team victory over the Golden Hurricane, arriving in the morning instead of just past midnight, and as the guys pointed out, a missed day of class. Our first road trip of the year that was fun, competitive, productive and had several positives despite bringing us back to Bama a day later.

The Case Tennis Center at Tulsa is an impressive outdoor-indoor facility that has hosted numerous large events including the annual ITA All-American Championships (men’s tournament) and the NCAA Championships in 2004, 2008 & 2016. There are 12 outdoor and 6 indoor like at our home, however, the configuration is rather different with three banks of four courts outside and two banks of three courts inside. The main difference was that we were not able to have everyone play or coach side by side in a row of six like we have at the “RAB” (Roberta Alison Baumgardner Indoor Tennis Facility). We had experienced this situation at other schools like Oklahoma and Michigan, where you just didn’t know what was going on the opposite side of the facility. A large scoreboard on both sides grabbed the attention of fans, players and coaches and listed the scores from all the courts. This served as both a barometer as to how the match was going and also a distraction as our players lost some focus when peering at the scoreboard for too long.

Doubles kicked off in exciting fashion and kept all of us together on one side for another wild ride. Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov were once again quick out of the gates and first to the finish line capturing a victory at #2 doubles. Riccardo Roberto and Zhe Zhou came back from a couple of deficits but couldn’t sustain their momentum and dropped a hard fought match. It then came down to #1 doubles where Edson Ortiz and Mazen Osama kicked it into overdrive. Down a break early in their set, the two regrouped and rallied once again for a 7-5 victory. In fact Edson and Mazen convincingly broke at love in the final game to give us a 1-0 lead. Point Bama!

Heading into singles it was clear we felt a lot better being up 1-0 on the road than having an uphill climb. We were up to the task at hand and determined to keep the momentum moving. Patrick Kaukovalta won his third consecutive match to push the Bama lead to 2-0. Seconds later we heard Edson scream “POINT BAMA!” from the other side of the building to push us to a 3-0 margin. Both players were very smart and solid with their play that afternoon. Resilient, aggressive and opportunistic. While Riccardo and Alexey were in tight matches, Thibault and Mazen crept closer to the finish line against their opponents who both held national singles rankings. Mazen’s opponent, Josh Goodger, had just defeated the 29th-ranked singles player on Friday night, while Thibault’s foe, Majed Kilani, had several impressive ranked wins throughout the season. The teammates were neck-and-neck until Mazen turned up the jets and clinched the first road victory of the season for Alabama with a straight set win…and included quite the ESPN Top-10 list, between-the-legs-passing shot that can be viewed on our Men’s Tennis Facebook page. Match Bama!

Following the match and prior to our trek home, we stopped at one of the best restaurants in town, Torchy’s Tacos, for an obscene amount of food with plenty of smiles on everybody’s faces to go along with the chips, salsa and guacamole. I think I’m still full. Ole!

Now we turn our eyes to this weekend, our final non-conference home duals, and theoretically, the last scheduled indoor matches, weather permitting. We will move our training and competing outdoors beginning next Tuesday morning. First up is 43-time…yes, 43-time…West Coast Conference champion Pepperdine, Coach Robbie’s alma mater. They bring a squad of new players that fill up their lineup card and a winning tradition that carries more than a little weight. They were NCAA Champions in 2006 (beating Georgia 4-2 in Palo Alto, Calif.) and face Bama for the first time since 2011. It’s Bama Salute Night with the Alabama Army and Air Force ROTC programs as well as men and women in the community who currently serve or have served in the armed forces. Taco Mama, a local favorite, will proved free tacos for fans and our featured Fathead/Player Pin will be freshman Patrick Kaukovalta. On Sunday, it’s my alma mater, San Diego State, that will be on the front end of a doubleheader with Lipscomb to follow in the nightcap. Freshmen roommates and teammates Sam Fischer and Grant Stuckey will be our featured Fathead/Player Pin. No special promo that day but definitely some passionate and energetic tennis, all free of charge.

We’ve had some incredible crowds this season so let’s pack the house again for another fun weekend of Crimson Tide Tennis.

Roll Tide!
George