The University of Alabama men’s tennis team split its season opening double-header at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility on Saturday. The Crimson Tide lost to Virginia Tech 5-2 before defeating Georgia State 6-1 to claim its first win of the season.

Coach George Husack was happy with how the team played in its first action of the season.

“I’m really happy how the guys came out tonight,” Husack said. “There’s a lot of excitement brewing for the start of the season, and I’m really proud of their effort today.

The No. 65 ranked Crimson Tide fell to a Virginia Tech team ranked No. 16 that featured five seniors. Senior captain Becker O’Shaughnessey and sophomore Danny Kerznerman won their singles matches against the Hokies to provide Alabama with its two points, while Virginia Tech won the doubles point and the other four singles matchups.

The second half of the doubleheader saw the Crimson Tide matched up against Georgia State, and Alabama had much more success. The Crimson Tide won two out of the three doubles matches to earn a point, with the team of sophomore Korey Lovett and freshman Mazen Osama winning their match 6-3. Sophomore Matthew Roussouw and freshman Spencer Richey won their match 6-2 to secure the doubles point for Alabama.

On the singles side, the Tide took all but one match, as sophomore Grayson Goldin, Kerznerman, O’Shaughnessey, Richery, and Osama all won their matches. Lovett fell just short of forcing a third set in his match against Georgia State’s Jannis Koeke.

Husack has seen improvement from the team in practice, and thought that the team continued to improve just in the course of the doubleheader.

“Becker O’Shaugnessey, our senior captain, he got better from one match to the next. Grayson Goldin had a great evening here,” Husack said.

Alabama plays its next matches on Monday in another home doubleheader against UAB and Samford. Those matches start at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.respectively.