The echo of tennis serves rang out at Alabama’s indoor tennis facility Monday as several players from the men’s tennis team were getting reps in before practice.

Alabama will open its spring season Saturday against UAB, Alabama A&M and Troy in Tuscaloosa.

“It’s an all-Alabama day,” coach George Husack said. “We need to challenge ourselves, and this is a huge challenge this weekend.”

All of the teams are familiar with Alabama. UAB senior Chris Helliar beat Alabama’s Becker O’Shaughnessey in the fall and is ranked No. 88 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The Crimson Tide will be looking for revenge come Saturday.

“They are all very solid teams,” junior Andrew Goodwin said. “They will give us their all.”

The Crimson Tide is coming off a successful fall season that helped the team prepare for the main spring season.

“We learned a lot because half of our team was new, while half was returning,” Husack said. “The returners did a good job of teaching our new guys our system.”

One of the returning players is senior Daniil Proskura. Proskura comes into the season ranked No. 14, and as the only senior, he has taken a leadership role for the team.

“He’s everything you want a player to become,” Husack said.

Proskura will most likely be Alabama’s No. 1 singles player, but he has also had a huge impact on his teammates.

“I try to help everyone else out as much as I can and be a good team leader,” Proskura said.

Of the group returning, Proskura joins a cast of two sophomores and a junior. Sophomore Becker O’Shaughnessey is ranked No. 51 and will join Proskura in doubles. As a team, the duo is ranked No. 57 in the nation.

Four freshmen and junior transfer Goodwin round out the team. Alabama is ranked No. 33 nationally, and the team plans to do some damage in the Southeastern Conference this year.

“It will be a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to it,” Goodwin said.