Next up, Alabama will hit the road for yet another pair of SEC matches, both in the state of Mississippi. It will be in Oxford to face Ole Miss at 5 p.m. Friday, then Starkville for Mississippi State at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Although she said she recognizes both Ole Miss and Mississippi State are good teams and believes they are better than last year, coach Jenny Mainz only has Ole Miss in her mind. She said she wants to take it one match at a time and only focus on the things they, as a team, can control.
“I think we just keep needing to get better,” Mainz said. “I know I say that every week, but that’s the strategy. We’re using what we did over the weekend and building on it.”
Mainz said she feels the team took its game to a whole new level last weekend and she plans to have everyone move forward with that in mind, whether it be that they served well, returned well or competed well.
Since the team took Monday off, Tuesday was its first day of practice before the matches, and Mainz said she wanted the players to kick off the week with a lot of energy.
“I just wanted to change it up a little bit [Tuesday],” she said. “So I actually asked the men’s coach [George Husack] to play mix-in and play a little with them. I did it just to challenge our girls, make it fun and competitive, and keep the energy up.”
Along with improving their game, all Mainz said she wants is for the women to have fun and have positive enthusiasm whenever they play.
If the Ole Miss match ends up indoors, the two teams will play on only three courts. It means the doubles teams will play as they normally will, but with singles, only three matches will be played at a time.
“I’ve never played on three courts before,” sophomore Erin Routliffe said. “If we’re indoors, I think that will be a super different play than six. So I think that will be interesting and a new experience.”
With three courts, who obtains the doubles point becomes a much stronger factor. Although Alabama doesn’t have its three doubles teams set in stone there is no worry, senior Emily Zabor said.
Getting the doubles point from the start will be, and always is, key for momentum.
“Whether we play indoors or outdoors, we have to get our teeth in early and be ready to compete on the first ball,” Mainz said.
