Hello Tide Tennis Fans,
This season has sure flown by as we head into the final home weekend prior to the SEC Championships (to be held here at Alabama April 25-29). It didn’t seem too long ago that we kicked off the year with a one-of-a-kind dual gender, doubleheader with the women’s team against Jackson State, not to mention communicated with all of you that we had 17 matches on the home schedule. After many points, games and matches have been played in January, February and March, our April home slate consists of an exciting pair of contests against well-known college tennis programs with a long history of tradition and success.
First up is the University of Georgia who comes to Tuscaloosa as the defending SEC champion, having won 31 regular season and 10 tournament crowns. Under their future Hall of Fame coach Manny Diaz, the Bulldogs have won 28 titles in 29 seasons. They are led by senior Wayne Montgomery from South Africa who will make his final regular season appearance at the UA Tennis Stadium. Our version of Friday Night Lights kicks off at 6pm with local restaurant favorite Taco Mama serving up tasty food to all fans. Speaking of future Hall of Famers, Alabama Softball head coach, Patrick Murphy, who won the 2012 National Championship, has 11 Women’s College World Series berths, five SEC regular season titles, five SEC Tournament titles and 18-straight NCAA Tournament bids will bring his passion and power to the courts and crush the honorary first serve. The featured Fathead Player of the Day and Bama Photo Button is Edson “El Toro” Ortiz. Our spirited sophomore from Chihuahua, Mexico was featured this week in our school newspaper, The Crimson White. You can read that interesting article by clicking here.
The Vols come to campus on Sunday for a 1pm battle. First-year head coach and former Tennessee All-American Chris Woodruff has the orange and white playing very well in his rookie campaign atop the helm. Tennessee brings several new faces to Tuscaloosa for their first visit to the Capstone. The Crimson Racket Club and grill master extraordinaire, David Ford, will have plenty of food on the grill for all fans to enjoy and a bounce house will be on-site for all boys and girls to jump their sillies out. We also welcome Reverend David Meginniss and Christ Episcopal Church to the courts for a group outing. Sunshine is in the forecast so it should make for a fun and spirited day at Bama Tennis.
One thing that will be a little different is the absence of a “Senior Day”. The final home match is typically reserved for this honoring, however, our roster is young with one junior (Mazen Osama), four sophomores (Thibault Cancel, Alexey Nesterov, Edson Ortiz, Zhe Zhou) and five freshmen (Sam Fischer, Jeremy Gschwendtner, Patrick Kaukovalta, Riccardo Roberto, Grant Stuckey). So I felt it was important to recognize the seniors whom we did celebrate since I began my Alabama career.
In my initial season of 2013, we celebrated the careers of Jarryd Botha and Harris Barnard. Jarryd finished his career leading the Tide at #1 singles and doubles to the NCAA team championships while garnering career-high national rankings in singles and doubles. He qualified for the NCAA individual tournament and garnered All-American honors as well. The South African native is married to the former Jessica Hubickey, also an Alabama graduate, and has two beautiful children in Jensen and Evelyn. Jarryd now calls Birmingham, Alabama home and is a Management Associate for Internal Audit at Regions Financial Corporation.
Barnard was born and raised in Dothan, Alabama. He spent his first few years as a reserve player for the Tide, but in his final season, made huge strides and inserted himself in the starting singles lineup. He committed himself to many hours on court as well as plenty of time exploring his future career moves. A southern boy at heart, Harris is a Media Relations Coordinator at Universal Audio in Scotts Valley, California. I enjoy the many sunset, surf and San Francisco photos he sends me from my home state from time to time. He is loving the west coast.
Daniil Proskura (Tallinn, Estonia) and Brian Conlon (Marietta, GA) were honored in 2014. A pair of bright financiers, Daniil and “BC” have stayed in the financial business sector post-Alabama. Daniil wrapped up his Tide Tennis career as a 2-time SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, NCAA team and individual championship participant (singles & doubles) and continued his educational journey after graduating with honors from the Capstone. A driven competitor on and off the court, Proskura earned a Master of Science in Finance from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. The 9-month program prepared him for a career balanced between finance and asset/portfolio management as well as earned him an Investment Banking Analyst position with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the Big Apple.
Conlon’s college tennis career was cut short by a knee injury but not before he left his mark at the courts. Brian brought a spirit to the locker room everyday that kept the mood light and fun. You could always count on a laugh or smile from him even when he experimented practicing with one of the largest knee braces ever worn by a tennis player. “BC” traveled back to his home state of Georgia after making several tour stops in the US gathering info on corporate finance, commercial real estate and running a company. He established and founded his own business venture in Atlanta, Manor Bridge Capital, and competes in ALTA tennis matches with friends and former teammates.
A pair of “brothers from other mothers”, Stuart Kenyon and Andrew Goodwin, closed out their Alabama careers in 2015. “Stu” was a 4-year member of the Tide and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering after serving two seasons as Team Captain. Like Harris Barnard, Kenyon took full advantage of opportunities to further himself as a student and athlete. He worked his way into the starting lineup as a sophomore and was a permanent fixture in the singles and doubles lineups while grinding through the rigors of his engineering program. A couple of memorable moments for Stuart include his match clinchers at LSU (after trailing 2-5 in the final set) and at home against no. 13 Kentucky. He has moved back to his hometown of Houston and is an Applications Engineer for Flowserve Corporation.
Andrew Goodwin transferred to Alabama from Southern Mississippi. He impacted our program on a daily basis with his discipline, passion and tenacious competitiveness. He was a 2-time Tenacity Award winner, given to a player on the team for their outstanding work ethic and had several memorable moments on court out-grinding, out-willing and out-competing his opponents. He was an SEC scholar-athlete and joined our staff as a volunteer coach for a season following his final match…a win over Tennessee at the SEC Championships. “Goodie” went onto coach for the USTA, the Wolverines of Michigan and now serves as assistant coach in Starkville for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. An SEC enemy but a super friend no matter what colors he wears.
Our lone freshman in the 2013 season was our lone senior in 2016. Becker O’Shaughnessey from Macon, Georgia made his mark on the Alabama tennis program. I was very fortunate to coach him for four years as he grew as a player, student, leader and young man. From clinching huge matches for the Tide during his rookie year (with and without a shaved head) to twice qualifying for the NCAA individual championships to garnering All-America honors and being one passionate hunter, “Big Beck” was a beast. His body would grow just from walking into the weight room, he was fast as a football wideout and his ability to consume a ton of food was incredible. He earned multiple academic honors (Alabama Dean’s List, SEC Honor Roll, ITA Scholar Athlete) and graduated with a business degree in finance. He now works for SunTrust Bank in Atlanta as a Wholesale Development Analyst.
The final two seniors include Ritchie Kruunenberg from Nieuw-Vennep, Netherlands and Hayes Brewer from Marietta, Georgia. “Ritchie Boy” spent just one season with the Tide however made a significant impact to the program. A rare senior transfer from Morehead State where the men’s team was canceled due to budget constraints, Kruunenberg spent countless hours on court and in the classroom. He began his Bama career the summer prior to the start of his senior year and gave it his all on a daily basis in practice and matches. A couple of notable moments in match play include clinching the doubles point against Washington and Purdue at the ITA Kickoff as well as his comeback 3-set singles victory at Vanderbilt. Ritchie graduated with honors in business and a 3.72 gpa this past December after helping the Tide on court as an undergraduate assistant coach. He returned to the Netherlands and works as a Flexpool Planner and Social Media Coordinator at Projob in Amsterdam. He has sights set on returning to Alabama in the near future to study for his MBA.
Hayes “The Fridge” Brewer was the first recruit I signed back in November 2012. He played both singles and doubles during his four-year career with the Tide and graduated with honors in May 2017. Like Becker, he had his hair “trimmed” during his freshman year but really let his “Bama Bangs” flow freely the majority of the time, and like his best buddy Brian Conlon, had an invaluable ability to bring humor to the locker room to keep things light and in perspective. He was a multiple ITA Scholar Athlete, SEC Honor Roll and Alabama Dean’s List honoree and earned his business degree in Finance and Economics. A couple highlights for Hayes include helping the Tide defeat no. 13 Kentucky during his sophomore year and going undefeated in doubles his junior year at the Crimson Tide Four-In-The-Fall Championships. The Fridge moved back to Georgia following graduation and is an Analyst with Patterson Real Estate Advisory Group.
So while we don’t have current seniors to honor this weekend, we are all grateful for the aforementioned group to have been a big part of our program and honor their contributions to Alabama Tennis. They all accomplished a lot on the courts and in the classroom while on campus and are clearly “getting it done” in the next chapters of their lives. I’m proud of all of them and glad that I had the opportunity to be impacted by their time at Bama. I’m also proud of the current players who are learning, growing, fighting and excelling as students and athletes. We have two great matches and opportunities presented this weekend and we’re all fired up for the challenge ahead. We hope to see you out for the final weekend of regular season play, and if you can’t make it, then be sure to come out April 25–29 as we host the SEC Championships here in T-Town.
Roll Tide,
George