Alabama women’s tennis had a successful weekend, beating East Tennessee State and Minnesota and improving to 5-2 on the season.
“I’m very proud of all the girls,” head coach Jonatan Berhane said. “We stayed very resilient this week.”
ETSU
The Crimson Tide started off the weekend strong, defeating ETSU on Friday 5-2.
In doubles, Alabama’s pairing of Maria Andrienko and Maria Martinez-Vaquero got the Crimson Tide going early with a 6-1 victory over ETSU’s Jana Rovira and Julia Millan.
The second doubles match of the day saw the Crimson Tide’s Sara Nayar and Klara Milicevic fall 6-2 to ETSU’s Daniela Rivera and Alessandra Caceres, which set up a tiebreaker match for the doubles point.
In the tiebreaking match, it was Alabama’s Margaux Marquet and Priya Nelson who came out on top, defeating ETSU’s Ksenija Rage and Ralitsa Alexandrova 6-2, clinching the doubles win for the Crimson Tide and giving the team the first point of the day.
In singles, Martinez-Vaquero won in two sets (6-0, 6-2) over Rovira and gave Alabama its second point of the day. Nayar then defeated Alexandrova in two sets (6-1, 6-1) to extend the Crimson Tide’s lead to 3-0.
ETSU finally scored a point after Rage defeated Nelson in two sets (6-1, 6-4).
Milicevic clinched the win for Alabama after defeating Caceres in two sets (7-5, 6-2) and giving the Crimson Tide its fourth point of the game.
Andrienko extended Alabama’s lead and got its fifth point after winning in three sets (6-3, 2,6, 6-3) over Rivera. Singles wrapped up after Maquet fell in three sets to ETSU’s Millan.
“It was a tough match coming in. We knew they were a hardworking and feisty team,” Berhane said. “We did a great job in the game.”
Minnesota
Alabama ended the weekend on a positive note, defeating Minnesota 4-1 on Sunday.
Doubles play saw Maquet and Nelson win 6-1 over the Gophers’ Sofia Pinto and Jeselle Ante. Andrienko and Martinez-Vaquero then immediately clinched the doubles point for the Crimson Tide after defeating Minnesota’s Aiva Schmitz and Arina Valitova 6-3.
Then it was Nayar and Milicevic who finished off the clean sweep for Alabama, defeating Minnesota’s Anali Kocevar and Mia Liepert 6-3.
In singles play, Milicevic got the Crimson Tide going early with a dominating two-set win (6-0, 6-1) over Liepert. The Gophers responded as Schmitz defeated Andrienko in two sets (6-3, 6-4) in what turned out to be Minnesota’s only win of the game.
Martinez-Vaquero then put the Crimson Tide 1 point away from victory after defeating Kocevar in two sets (7-6, 6-1). Then Nayar clinched the victory after defeating Minnseota’s Anlin Xie in two sets (6-4, 6-4).
As a result of the clinched win, the match between Marquet and Valitova was suspended (1-6, 6-1, 4-2) as well as the match between Nelson and Ante (3-6, 6-2, 2-2).
“These matches show what kind of team we are,” Berhane said. “We’re gonna be tough and we’re gonna be a force to reckon with.”
Alabama will start SEC play next Sunday, playing against Mississippi State at 11 a.m. CT.
