Alabama men’s tennis swept the day Saturday after taking down Kennesaw State and Tennessee Tech to grab its fourth and fifth consecutive wins.
In the first match against Kennesaw State, Alabama shut down the Owls in a 7-0 victory.
Junior Filip Planinsek and freshman Andrii Zimnokh outlasted Kennesaw State’s Mikolaj Lis and Hugo Salmeron in a hard-fought doubles match, winning 7-5. The match went back and forth until Planinsek and Zimnokh took the last two points to seal the win.
“We started a little bit slow and with not enough energy, but we were able to get our energy level up, and I think that made the difference,” Zimnokh said.
Planinsek and Zimnokh came into the match the No. 25 doubles players in the nation as the duo secured its third consecutive doubles victory.
Sophomore Roan Jones and graduate student Matic Dimic shined in their doubles match against Kennesaw State. The two took down Agustin Miramontes and Anthony Weingarten 6-1.
In the third doubles match, juniors Enzo Aguiard and Zach Foster faced off against Kennesaw State’s Harvey Conway and Raul Garcia. The match was ruled unfinished after Alabama took the first two doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the matchup overall.
In singles, Zimnokh cruised his way to victory, defeating Salmeron in two sets (6-0, 6-0).
Dimic followed suit, securing Alabama’s third point of the matchup, also winning in two sets against Lis (6-4, 6-4).
Jones sealed the match for the Crimson Tide, defeating Weingarten in two sets (6-3, 6-3) to secure Alabama’s fourth point and its fourth straight victory overall to move the Crimson Tide’s record to 4-2 on the spring season.
Jones credited his level of energy and belief to his success in singles play.
“I think staying energetic and believing believing in myself and the guys to play a lot better this season,” Jones said.
Sophomore Yair Sarouk defeated Kennesaw State’s Sam Baldwin in a tie-breaking third set, winning 10-7 (6-0, 4-6, 1-0). Foster additionally won in a tiebreaking set 10-6 over Conway (6-3, 3-6, 1-0).
In the final singles face-off of the match, Aguiard wrapped up Alabama’s shutout victory after winning a tiebreaking third set 10-3 against Garcia (2-6, 7-5, 1-0).
In the second match against Tennessee Tech, Alabama once again swept the scoreboard, taking all 7 points for another shutout victory.
However, the stark difference was the doubles pairings. In this match, Planinsek was paired with Dimic, Jones was paired with Zach Foster, and Zimnokh was paired with Sarouk.
“Those guys had played with each other before in the fall, and in Filip’s case, he and Matic have played with each other before back home in Slovenia,” head coach George Husack said.
In the doubles, Sarouk and Zimnokh took down Tennessee Tech’s Darek Kuczynski and Lukas Krause 6-2. The doubles match win gave Zimnokh his fourth consecutive win in doubles.
Jones and Foster beat Tennessee Tech’s Davids Spaks and Murilo Burckhardt 6-3. Jones notched his sixth consecutive victory in doubles this season, with the first five of the six playing alongside Dimic.
“We have started to understand each other’s games a little better, and we have a good chemistry together now,” Jones said about playing with Dimic.
In singles, Zimnokh posted his second clean sweep of the day, defeating Burckhardt in two sets (6-0, 6-0).
Zimnokh moved to a 6-1 record in singles after his two wins Saturday.
“I think I was playing on a really high level today and I was able to stay focused through both of the matches,” Zimnokh said.
Sarouk sealed the victory for the Crimson Tide after he beat Krause in singles in two sets (6-2, 6-3). The game-winning point clinched Alabama’s fifth consecutive victory on the season as the team moved to a 5-2 record.
Husack attributed the Crimson Tide’s winning streak to getting back into the rhythm of the season.
“Guys are getting a little bit more seasoned, and we are getting a little more healthy,” Husack said.
Up next, the Crimson Tide will head to Chicago on Friday as it takes on Northwestern on Friday at 6 p.m. CT. The team will then end its weekend up north when it goes to Madison, Wisconsin, in a matchup against Wisconsin on Sunday at noon CT.
