Alabama women’s tennis started SEC play on the right foot, beating Mississippi State 4-0 on Sunday to move to 6-2 on the season and 1-0 in conference play.
“The girls executed very well against a tough Mississippi State team,” head coach Jonatan Berhane said. “We’re responding well, and I feel like we’re getting better and better after each match.”
In doubles play, Maria Andrienko and Maria Martinez-Vaquero got the Crimson Tide off to a hot start with a 6-2 win over the Bulldogs’ Jayna Clemens and Chiara Di Genova.
Then Alabama’s Sara Nayar and Klara Milicevic clinched the doubles point for the Crimson Tide, winning 6-2 over Mississippi State’s Alessia Tagliente and Emma Cohen. The match between Alabama’s Petra Sedlackova and Margaux Maquet duo and the Bulldogs’ Gianna Oboniye and Athina Pitta was called unfinished with the Crimson Tide up 5-3.
Singles play started with Alabama getting an early point after Oboniye got injured against Sedlackova and had to forfeit the match. Sedlackova was up 4-0 in the first set.
Andrienko then took care of business against the Bulldogs’ Maria Rizzolo in two sets (6-1, 6-1). Milicevic then proceeded to clinch victory for the Crimson Tide, winning in two sets (6-2, 6-2) over Tagliente and giving Alabama its fourth point of the match, sealing the victory.
Due to the clinched win, the match between Martinez-Vaquero and Pitta (7-5, 1-2) and Maquet’s match against Di Genova (6-4, 3-2) was suspended. Nayar’s match against Clemens was also ruled unfinished (6-2, 2-3), and the Crimson Tide held the advantage in all three unfinished matches.
“A match like this is huge, because it builds confidence heading into our next SEC game,” Berhane said. “Starting out with a win will really help us with our next match, and hopefully we keep building and building.”
Alabama’s next match will be against Missouri in Columbia on Friday at 2:30 p.m. CT.
