“That was a very, very good match played both ways,” coach Jenny Mainz said. “We had to take it from them. They didn’t give it to us, they didn’t relent and they didn’t start making errors. We had to step up and physically take it from them.”
Playing as a doubles pair on court three, sophomore Danielle Spielmann and senior Luicelena Perez won their match together 8-5 after Georgia claimed the first doubles win on court two. The Crimson Tide ended clinching the doubles point in overtime on court one.
Spielmann’s match was the only singles match that did not go into a third set.
“It was so intense,” Perez said. “I think I had like 11 match points, credit to the other girl [Kennedy Shaffer]. It was hard, and hard to close, but I’m glad I could do it.”
Along with Georgia already being an intense match, it was also alumni weekend. The women had many more fans than usual and people were standing and cheering, Spielmann said. The atmosphere was indescribable.
“That gave us so much energy,” she said. “I had that feeling that we were just not able to lose that day. Not in a cocky [way] but just because we had so much support.”
Then the Crimson Tide overcame the University of Tennessee on Sunday, 4-0.
“[Sunday] we knew we had to go to work,” Spielmann said. “The win from Friday is behind us, no matter how awesome it was – today is a new day. I think we did a really good job with that.”
Also with Tennessee, the Crimson Tide claimed its 11th doubles point this season. Although the team has that working for it, Mainz still said the doubles combinations are not locked in. The fundamentals need to be executed better, she said, serve and return mainly.
Alabama is now 11-2 overall, 3-1 conference.
