The No. 45 Alabama men’s tennis team will return to the court Friday, traveling to College Station, Texas, to take on the No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies at 6 p.m. in its final road match of the season.
The Crimson Tide (11-11, 4-5 SEC) will enter this match after two straight SEC wins. On Friday, Alabama topped Vanderbilt 4-1 and went on to finish out the weekend by defeating Kentucky 4-2, handing the Wildcats their second loss in league play.
(See also “Tide men tennis team splits weekend doubleheader“)
Alabama coach George Husack said the successful weekend was a breakthrough for the team, showing that it is capable of winning close matches against top teams.
“It definitely builds a lot of confidence to win both matches this weekend, and we’ve been close in all of our SEC matches,” Husack said. “It’s nice to get a little bit of a breakthrough, and it certainly creates some momentum going into this weekend.”
Momentum will be essential to the team this weekend, as Texas A&M currently boasts a 6-1 record in SEC play.
“They’re very strong, and they’re very talented top to bottom,” Husack said. “But, regardless of who we play, competing like we did this last weekend is our goal. Nothing is going to be given to us, that’s for sure.”
(See also “Alabama men’s tennis faces series of away matches“)
The Aggies home court advantage will also factor into the match, as both Husack and freshman Andrew Goodwin said College Station is notorious for its crowd.
“We’re expecting a very tough match,” Goodwin said. “They’re one of the top teams in the nation, and they always have a good turn out. It will be a tough place to play.”
Although Goodwin has never made the trip to College Station before, he said the team is anticipating a large opposing crowd, which increases the importance of focus on the court.
“At the away matches, you have a lot of people trying to mess with you and get in your head,” Goodwin said. “I just try to focus even more than normal, and look to the guy beside me to cheer them on and look to them when I need help.”
Following a pair of losses at the beginning of spring break, Husack said the team recently had a discussion where a question about the difference between the words try and triumph was posed.
(See also “Men’s tennis to face USC in 1st match since 1989“)
Currently, the answer to that question is playing a large role in guiding the team for the remainder of the season.
“The answer was ‘umph,’” Husack said. “We needed a little more ‘umph.’ We’re working hard to try to ingrain [it] into us. As much as we say we are working hard, are we really providing enough ‘umph’ in our training and our matches? This last weekend, we definitely did.”
Goodwin said that to him, ‘umph’ is about leaving it all on the court and giving every match.
“’Umph’ means playing with grit, playing with tenacity,” Goodwin said. “It means getting over the hump and doing all we can to perform at our best.”
The Crimson Tide will return to Tuscaloosa for two final matches, facing Georgia on April 11 at 5 p.m., and taking the court for the final home match of the regular season April 13 against Tennessee at 1 p.m.
