The Alabama women’s tennis team looks to continue rolling through its fall season this weekend as it travels to Greensville, S.C., to compete in the Furman Fall Classic.
Last season the Crimson Tide had a successful season as it went 21-6 and made it all the way to the third round of the NCAA tournament. Head coach Jenny Mainz was named last season’s Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Coach of the Year.
“Last year was the best season we have had in program history,” Mainz said. “It was fantastic, but the goal is to continue to build on that momentum, confidence and experience we had.”
The fall season is a great way for Alabama to improve heading into the spring regular season. Junior Emily Zabor said the team has already accomplished a lot this fall and continues to work hard.
“The fall season is a great time to learn and develop new things,” Zabor said. “I can guarantee you this is the hardest we have worked in any fall I have been here.”
At the Furman Fall Classic this weekend, Alabama will be competing against Furman, Florida State, Tennessee, Clemson, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Iowa. Mainz said the amount of competition at the Furman Fall Classic will help the team prepare for the future.
“I feel like our fall schedule is designed for us to gain a lot of confidence, but the strength of schedule is very steep,” Mainz said. “It’s good for us to have a tough schedule because that’s what we’re going to face in the spring. It’s only going to help us.”
After this weekend in South Carolina, senior Mary Anne Daines and freshman Erin Routliffe will travel to Los Angeles, Calif., to compete in the ITA/Riviera All-American championships. Daines and Routliffe are one of 24 doubles teams to qualify for the main draw at this tournament.
In addition to playing in the doubles main draw, Daines will be competing in the singles main draw due to her national ranking, as she is ranked 28th in the country.
Mainz said competing in the main draw is a huge achievement and hopes to see the duo play with momentum.
“That’s a preview to the NCAA championships. It’s a high-caliber and quality tournament,” Mainz said. “It’s great to play it this early in the season, and if you can go out there and make some headlines, gain some confidence only good things are going to feed off of that.”
Zabor said everyone on the team is really looking forward to Daines and Routliffe representing the Crimson Tide at a big tournament.
“It’s a great tournament just to show people how hard we have been working this year and what Alabama wants to do this year,” Zabor said.
