The Alabama men’s tennis team will host two Southeastern Conference matches this weekend at the Alabama Tennis Stadium.
First, the Crimson Tide will face the No. 18 Florida Gators at 3 p.m. Friday. Then at 1 p.m. Sunday, Alabama will square off against the South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Tide is coming off a nail-biting 4-3 victory over the Auburn Tigers. The Auburn match came down to the wire as freshman Becker O’Shaughnessey clinched the match for the Tide in his third and final set.
Alabama is currently ranked No. 26 in the country and is 3-2 in SEC play. Junior Daniil Proskura said the team is playing with a lot of confidence, which has contributed to its overall success.
“We have had three really good SEC matches in a row, and even the matches we lost were really close too,” Proskura said. “Everyone seems to be feeling really good and playing really well, so that can only help us.”
The match against Florida will be the Tide’s first against an SEC East team this season. Head coach George Husack said he likes what he has seen from Alabama against conference opponents.
“We have played well in the SEC so far,” Husack said. “We are 3-2 right now and only a few points short of being 5-0; I think we have faced our competition and competed well against them.”
Proskura said Alabama needs to get out to a quick start in the doubles portion of the match, and everyone on the team needs to focus and play hard.
“We definitely need to try to win the doubles point first,” Proskura said. “That pretty much decided the Auburn game, so we need to get out early. Everybody has to do their best and play their best to win these matches coming up.”
Husack said Alabama needs to show up and compete this weekend, because good things happen when they do so.
“Every week we have had to compete,” Husack said. “When we compete, we have opportunities to win, and that’s exactly what we have to do Friday and Sunday.”
Proskura said the team is ready for the matches and looking forward to taking the courts again.
“We are very excited for the opportunity to play Florida and South Carolina over the weekend,” Proskura said. “We are going to play our best to win both matches.”
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