As officials quieted the enthusiastic crowd, junior Emily Zabor lined up to receive a second serve from Princeton’s Dorothy Tang. After Tang’s serve rushed into the net, fans and athletes alike began celebrating Alabama’s second round victory in the NCAA Tournament.
In a back-and-forth battle with the Princeton Tigers, Zabor’s win secured a 4-2 victory for Alabama under the sun at the Alabama Tennis Facility May 10.
Alabama coach Jenny Mainz said she expected nothing less of a battle with Princeton, who had won the Ivy League division and came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Arizona State May 9 and advance to today’s match.
“I called it. I knew it would be this type of a match,” Mainz said. “They’re a tenacious group, the compete well, so we knew we were going to have our hands full.”
Mainz also said she is very proud of their team for the way the continued to compete, as they are no stranger to close matches.
“We’ve played these type of matches all season,” Mainz said. “Some of the SEC matches we’ve played—even though they look like convincing wins, they were all hard fought matches.”
Alabama jumped out to an early lead in the hunt for the doubles point, with fourth-ranked pair Erin Routliffe and Maya Jansen posting an 8-1 win. Court two continued the Crimson Tide’s control as pair Mary Anne Daines and Danielle Spielmann secured an 8-2 win to give Alabama a 1-0 lead entering singles play.
Mainz called the doubles point a “shot in the arm” the Crimson Tide would need going into difficult singles play.
Although Alabama posted solid first set victories across four of six courts, Princeton reminded the Crimson Tide they had come to play.
Luicelena Perez gave Alabama a 2-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-2 win on court six, but Princeton shortly narrowed the gap as Alabama senior Mary Anne Daines fell on court one, 6-4, 6-2.
A 6-4, 6-3 win on court two would give Princeton the tying point.
Jansen gave Alabama the advantage with a 6-3, 6-4 win on court four, leaving Routliffe on court three and Zabor on court five to find a final point to secure the match.
As Routliffe edged a small 3-2 lead in the third set of an extremely competitive match, all eyes turned to Zabor as she was faced with match point.
“I have huge confidence in Erin that she would finish that match,” Zabor said. “But you don’t know what will happen if you don’t win your match. We talk about we want to go out and win 7-0 against teams, and have that mentality of ‘I’m not going to depend on anybody else.’ Yes, we are a team, and that’s what makes us great, but we help our team the most by getting a point for them.”
Zabor also clinched the Crimson Tide’s first round match against Jackson State, but said, to her, it is more important that her team gets the victory, which is an attitude Mainz praised.
While Mainz said every member of the team is equally as important and vital to the program, Zabor has emerged as a great leader who is always pressing the team to go further and dig deeper.
“Emily Zabor is a huge reason for the success of this team,” Mainz said. “Emily isn’t afraid to be accountable and call accountability to another player. She’s a leader with her work ethic, her attitude. She’s consistent, she’s stable, and she’s one of the strongest leaders we’ve seen within the history of our program.”
Alabama will follow today’s victory with a match against Notre Dame in the round of 16 to be held Thursday morning at 8 CT in Athens, Georgia. Notre Dame enters this match after an upset victory over Northwestern.
