The No. 12 Alabama women’s tennis team will travel to the ITA National Indoor Championships this weekend. The Virginia Cavaliers will host the tournament in Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 7-10.

After defeating William & Mary and Oklahoma in the qualifying kick-off weekend, Alabama clinched a spot in the championships for the second year in a row.

(See also “Women’s tennis team looking to stay undefeated“)

The tournament features 16 colleges from around the nation. Although No. 1 Stanford did not enter the tournament, Nos. 2-17 in the nation will be represented.

“It’s a snapshot of the NCAA Tournament in May, because it’s the best teams,” Alabama coach Jenny Mainz said.

Five of the 16 teams are from the SEC, including No. 2 Florida.

“It speaks well for the conference,” Mainz said. “I think that the SEC is even better than last year.”

Alabama, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Georgia played in the tournament last year. Alabama lost its first match, but won two in the consolation bracket. UGA did the best in the SEC and made it to the semifinals. This year all of these teams are back plus No. 2 Florida, who is expected to be the number one seed.

(See also “Women’s tennis team takes down Georgia State“)

The Crimson Tide is led by its No. 1 Mary Anne Daines. As the only senior, she has taken a leadership role on the team and hopes to take the team to victory.

“She has been a very good steady leader,” Mainz said “She’s always going to leave it all out on the court, no matter who she plays.”

Mainz said the lineup for the weekend will be the same as last week, but the lineups are allowed to change in between matches. She also said she will probably make minor tweaks as they go.

Alabama is undefeated so far and hopes to keep that zero at the end of its record.

“I think we have the potential to, definitely,” Daines said. “We need to compete hard and do our best and let the results take care of themselves.”

(See also “Junior tennis star Emily Zabor demonstrates leadership on, off court“)

Mainz said the team hopes to at least improve before the SEC season begins.

“It will pay dividends down the road,” Mainz said. “It’s another chance to face high-level competition to prepare for the SEC season.”