On Thursday, the Crimson Tide was away at Arkansas. It trailed 3-0 until the men fought back to tie it 3-3. In the end, the Razorbacks won the final point leaving Alabama with a 4-3 loss.
Saturday’s doubleheader was a different story for the team though. Alabama defeated No. 9 Ole Miss 4-2 then later beat out Alabama State in two matches 4-1 and 5-0. Although there were moments where nerves took over, the men fought through it and had many moments of greatness, coach George Husack said.
“[Saturday] was a great display of courage, of trust,” he said. “We’ve been so close, and just not really fearing the unknown and going for it.”
Ole Miss didn’t start out smoothly, though – Alabama did not win the doubles point.
“Doubles, we didn’t have as much energy and came up flat,” freshman Korey Lovett said. “We went into the locker room and talked, then everyone got really fired up. When we went back out there, everyone was screaming and gave it all we had.”
During his singles match against the Rebels, Lovett faced three-time All-American and 2014 SEC Player of the Year Nik Scholtz. Lovett said Scholtz gave him a few points in the beginning to make him believe, but Lovett took advantage of these points and ended up with the win.
Then it was junior Becker O’Shaughnessey who made the ace serve that clinched the win for Alabama.
“I just tossed it up and in the middle of the toss, I changed where I was going to serve it last second to where I hadn’t really served it there much all match,” O’Shaughnessey said. “It came up clutch, and then I was just pumped after that – so excited.”
The reaction of the team was immediate. Teammates swarmed him as soon as the point was made official. Husack at the time of the serve had his back to O’Shaughnessey’s court because he was helping freshman Sam Edwards who had rolled his ankle but will be fine.
“All I heard was a big pop and then the crowd erupted,” Husack said. “I said to Sam, ‘We won,’ then I really just broke out into tears. I laid flat on my back and just started crying because I wanted it so badly for these guys.”
