The Alabama men’s tennis team continues its fall season this weekend as it travels to Nashville, Tenn., to compete in the fall SEC championships.
The fall season acts as more of a preseason to help teams prepare for the spring regular season. Fall season also allows teams to build and improve on the results from last year.
Under the direction of new head coach George Husack, Alabama made it the NCAA tournament last year.
“There were a lot of positives from last year,” Husack said. “We didn’t really focus on the wins and loses – more of emphasizing working hard – and at the end of the year we had a lot of great accomplishments.”
In his first year at Alabama, Husack’s plan was to change the culture of the program to be more successful. Sophomore Becker O’Shaughnessey said Husack made the team very competitive and hungry to win.
“Coaches came in with a new mindset of making this program a lot better,” O’Shaughnessey said. “We got a lot better as a team throughout the season, and we started to get better wins.”
After last season’s breakthrough performance, the Crimson Tide is gearing up to take the next step in the right direction. Alabama will be returning two of its top three players from last season but will be without last season’s senior captain Jarryd Botha.
Husack said he expects several guys to step up and take on the leadership role Botha displayed last year.
“I think Daniil Proskura will be able to step up and fill those shoes,” Husack said. “I can’t wait to see what he does this year. We have a good group of guys who are going to learn a lot from him, and he also works extremely hard.”
There are many things the Crimson Tide needs to work on this fall, but O’Shaughnessey said the biggest thing it needs to do is be a tough and competitive team.
“We are definitely putting in a lot of hard work, so we need to have a tough mentality this fall,” O’Shaughnessey said. “We need to have a lot of confidence knowing that we can compete and beat these good teams we face off against.”
Husack said the fall season is a good way to see where the team is and what it has to do to get ready for the spring season.
“We have a good number of tournaments this fall, which basically your dress rehearsal for the main event that happens in the spring,” Husack said. “With every fall tournament, it allows us to make adjustments with our game in order to prepare for the spring dual match season.”
