In what was supposed to be a great senior day for Courtney McLane and Taylor Lindsey, the No. 13 women’s tennis team lost their final home match of the season Sunday to the No. 2 Florida Gators, 7-0. The defeat gives Alabama its first Southeastern Conference loss of the season. With the loss, Alabama falls to 13-3 (7-1), while the Gators improved their overall record to 15-1 (8-0).
“We knew this was going to be a battle,” head coach Jenny Mainz said. “I think in some situations they stepped up, shut the door and didn’t let us finish. In other situations, we probably got rushed and nervous, but the more times you’re in this situation, the better you respond.” Florida jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by sweeping Alabama in doubles matches.
Alabama’s 19th-ranked duo of junior Alexa Guarachi and senior Courtney McLane lost to Allie Will and Sofie Oyen, 8-5. Antonia Foehse and sophomore Mary Anne Macfarlane then fell to the 13th-ranked pair of junior Lauren Embree and senior Joanna Mather, 8-2. Senior Taylor Lindsey and freshman Yasmine Ebada finished the doubles matches by losing to junior Caroline Hitimana and sophomore Olivia Janowicz, 8-5.
In singles, No. 23 Macfarlane lost in two sets to Will, 6-2, 6-2. McLane followed up by losing to Mather in two sets, 6-3, 6-3. The next player to finish was sophomore Alex Clay. She struggled in a 6-2 loss in her first match before losing in a hard-fought match, 7-5. Foehse was knocked out by sophomore Alexandra Cercone, 7-5, 6-2, to give Florida a 5-0 lead. Alabama finished its singles matches with losses from Guarachi and Lindsey to seal the sweep.
Despite her team’s performance, Mainz said she was proud of the way they fought. Lindsey said she expects her team to rebound from their performance against Florida.
“We are going to build from the positives and prepare for next weekend,” Lindsey said. “Other than that, we fought our hardest, we had our opportunities, and we had to take them.”
McLane echoed her teammate’s thoughts. “They were a good team, and we left it all on the line,” McLane said. “Things didn’t go our way today, but we will be getting back to work to prepare for a big weekend at Georgia and Tennessee.”
The team will return to action Friday to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Ga. The Tide will finish the weekend Sunday against the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville, Tenn.
