Alabama tennis player Andrew Goodwin said the Crimson Tide competes as hard as any team in the nation, and it seeks to send that message as it travels to Baton Rouge to face Southeastern Conference rival LSU on Friday.
“We were pleased with how we competed on Sunday against Ole Miss,” Goodwin said. “I think we set a tone for how we want to compete the rest of the year – each day, each practice, each match. We want to compete harder than anyone, and I feel like that’s going to give us the best chance to succeed.”
(See also “Tide men’s tennis team prepares for tournament“)
Goodwin helped Alabama clinch its 4-2 win over Ole Miss Sunday, a win that moved the Crimson Tide to a 7-6 record on the season. The team is now 1-1 in conference play and looking to improve. After a tough 4-3 loss to No. 16 Mississippi State Saturday, Alabama made key adjustments that brought in the victory over Ole Miss, Goodwin said.
“I think from the Mississippi State match to the Ole Miss match, we improved our energy in our doubles, got ourselves to a better start against Ole Miss,” he said. “We had a disappointing doubles point against Mississippi State, and it ended up costing us, so we kept improving that. We want to keep improving that energy every day, getting it up higher and higher.”
Alabama seeks to improve its record as it travels to face LSU. Last year, the Crimson Tide defeated LSU 6-1, and the team aims to do so again this season. Coach George Husack said the team’s energy is the most important focus as it prepares to face the conference foe.
“You don’t want to lose to anyone in-conference,” he said. “More importantly, we don’t want to have any letup. We want to have more matches like Ole Miss, where we have sustained energy all the way through, so whether it’s LSU, Tennessee, The Citadel, Arkansas — it doesn’t matter who our opponent is – we have to have that energy. If we don’t, then we’re not playing at our full potential, and that’s not where we want to be.”
(See also “Alabama men’s tennis team seeks to improve record“)
Husack also said this energy is something the team has been trying to harness more than ever before in practices, using competition between teammates to improve overall play.
“The last few weeks, we’ve really tried to pick up the energy in practice,” he said. “That’s been something that we’ve wanted to do. We’ve been competing a lot more. We’ve been looser – focused, yet loose. We’ve had some fun, we’ve played a lot of ultimate Frisbee, and we’ve had competitions every week, so a lot of intra-squad competitions.”
As the fairly young Alabama team prepares to face LSU, the freshmen on the team – Nikko Madregallejo, Hayes Brewer, Saxon Buehning and Sean Donohue – continue to improve and make adjustments on their games.
“I think that they’re maturing a lot more – really, all of them,” Husack said. “I think they’re learning more from the older guys, but they’re also really just learning about themselves as the season goes along.”
Madregallejo said, with improved team intensity and chemistry, Alabama will compete to its utmost in Baton Rouge.
“It’s always important to play LSU,” he said. “We’ll just go out there and compete and do our best and see what happens.”
(See also “Alabama women’s tennis team claims first SEC win“)
