For the first home meet of the spring indoor season, the Alabama women’s tennis team will host William and Mary, Oklahoma and Ole Miss for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. This will be the first time in recent years the Crimson Tide will face William and Mary and Oklahoma.
Last weekend, Alabama took a ride up to Evanston, Ill., for the Northwestern Invitational. Coach Jenny Mainz said the three-day event helped prepare the team for the rest of the season.
“[It was] a great learning tool for everyone, and I mean for the players and the coaches,” Mainz said. “It was a great evaluation of where we are and what we need to work on in pressure situations and under stress when we’re competing against someone in a different color uniform. We had the opportunity to play an invitational, so everybody got to participate, and that was a great start to the 2014 season.”
Unfamiliar with two of its competitors, Mainz said the Crimson Tide is not fazed by the unknown. Instead, Mainz said she is only worried about her team.
“If you talked to most coaches they would tell you this; most importantly it is what we control on our side with the tempo, mindset and the energy,” Mainz said. “In the end, we can’t control what William and Mary does. They are a very good team, they are very well coached. I have a lot of respect for their coaching and their program. I think the coach there has done a commendable job of really getting that program going, and they’re a really good team. So all four of us – Alabama, William and Mary, Oklahoma and Ole Miss – are very good teams. But at the end of the day, it’s what we bring.”
Mainz said star player Maya Jansen excelled last weekend and was named the singles champion at the invitational. Jansen said she’s feeling good about this season but still wants to work more.
“I’ve only had three [singles] matches, but I try to focus on being a good teammate and helping my teammates beside me play,” Jansen said. “I don’t think about winning or losing when I’m playing, obviously. But I’ve just got to keep doing what I have been doing, and the results will take care of themselves.”
Like Mainz, Jansen said this weekend will be a good test for Alabama.
“I think if we stick to what we’ve been doing and what we’ve been successful with, we should be okay, we should be able to play our games and have the best chance that way,” Jansen said. “We don’t really focus on them. We probably will have some strategy, but we just have to focus on what we do best with us.”
