Dubbed the best season in program history, the Alabama women’s tennis team won the SEC Championship in April and finished out the season 12-1 in conference.
That’s not all. The Crimson Tide will also be hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament this weekend. This is the third consecutive time Alabama has hosted.
With the team sitting as the No. 2 seed, coach Jenny Mainz said it is an honor to host the first two rounds.
“It’s a huge privilege,” Mainz said. “I was thinking about it as I was sending out emails… It’s a privilege. It’s an honor to be able to play at home. Arizona State just came in. They’re traveling from Phoenix, Arizona to get here and got in at midnight (Tuesday). Princeton, obviously, coming in from New Jersey. It’s a long hard trip. I think to be able to have all the routine and to have everything in place and the structure that we have our game plan to follow at home to play in front of our home fans.”
Princeton, Arizona State and Jackson State will be the other competitors at this weekend’s tournament. Alabama will play Jackson State at 4 p.m. Friday while Arizona State and Princeton will battle at 1 p.m. Friday. The two winners will compete on Saturday to determine the final victor who progresses to the next round of the tournament in Athens, Georgia.
Compared to August, the team has improved exponentially. Mainz said her goal for the team was consistency throughout the season and she’s proud of how much Alabama worked to be consistent.
“We were very inconsistent in August, September, October and even in January,” Mainz said. “We sat down with the team and had a very pointed meeting in Chicago, the third week of January. Boy, was it a pretty intense meeting. How good did we want to be? What are we willing to give? What were we willing to sacrifice and who’s going to step up as leaders? There’s always a price tag with everything and what are you willing to give?”
“I like the way the team responded and a lot of times we’ll go back to that meeting and say hey, remember the Chicago meeting? We called it ‘Flip the Switch.’ So at times you’ll hear us yell it, yell ‘flip it and let’s go.’ It just means regroup, get your mind in the right place, focus on what’s important, control what’s controllable and move forward. I think the team has done a really commendable job of that,” Mainz said.
With the desire to become consistent and continue to improve, Mainz said her team earned a spot in the NCAA tournament because of their goals.
“I always tell the team this, we earned it by virtue of obviously winning our way in with a winning season,” Mainz said. “But you know I’m really proud of them for claiming the SEC Championship and taking care of business all season and improving through the course of this season.”
The first round of the NCAA tournament begins Friday at 1 p.m. with Princeton and Arizona State playing at the Baumgardner Tennis Facility. Alabama and Jackson State will play at 4 p.m.
