The Alabama women’s tennis team will travel on the road to face the Missouri Tigers and the Texas A&M Aggies this weekend. The Crimson Tide won its last three matches and is currently ranked No. 8 in the country.
The team lost to the Florida Gators on March 22nd, and sophomore Emily Zabor said the match was a good wake up headed into the final stretch of the season.
“We came back with a little vengeance and came back hard in every match,” Zabor said.
In its last match, Alabama defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores 4-3 in a competition that came down to the wire. Freshman Natalia Maynetto clinched the victory for the Tide.
“Natalia’s will is so dangerous; she is a warrior,” head coach Jenny Mainz said. “She has formed a reputation and a behavior that she will just not go away and give up.”
With the win over Vanderbilt, Alabama has won six games with a score of 4-3. Mainz said the team has shown great reliance all season when its back is against the wall.
“A characteristic of this team is the fighting spirit. And the reliance – I don’t know if I have ever seen it. I have never coached a team like this,” Mainz said. “We will not go away, we have been absolutely down and out and they dig deep, and it is inspirational.”
This will be the first time that Missouri and Texas A&M play Alabama as members of the Southeastern Conference. The Tide is looking forward to playing the two new faces of the SEC.
“It is exciting for the whole conference,” Mainz said. “I think it’s great that were seeing new teams, and they are both good teams.”
Zabor said the team enjoys playing on the road and the challenge that comes with it.
“It’s going to be a great weekend, always being on the road is fun,” Zabor said. “It’s fun to compete; I love playing at home but being on the road you get battle tested, so you have to be a road warrior.”
Missouri’s head coach Sasha Schmid actually played under Mainz back in 1996 at Iowa. Mainz said Schmid was a tough player back then, and so is the team she coaches.
“Missouri coach played for me at Iowa,” Mainz said. “I coached her; she is a tenacious player, and that is what Missouri is: tenacious. I have a lot of respect for her as a person and a coach.”
Texas A&M come into the match against Alabama ranked No. 4 in the country. Mainz said she is confident that her team is ready and will be up for the challenge that it will face this weekend on the road.
“I don’t think we feel any pressure,” Mainz said. “We have gotten better every match every week; I look for both matches to be good matches, but I think we will really be up and ready.”
