The Alabama women’s tennis team began its spring season this past weekend at the Florida State University Quad Tournament. Off to a great start, the Crimson Tide picked up 19 out of 19 wins throughout the tournament. This undefeated set might be the first step towards the SEC Championship this season.
“The team looked good,” said head coach Jenny Mainz. “They looked strong, they looked fresh and they looked ready to play. Overall, they looked very solid, and as a coach, it is one of the most telling things, just to see them so ready to play and then watching them follow through every step.”
At the start of the weekend, Alabama earned four doubles victories and six singles. No. 6-ranked duo, Courtney McLane and Alexa Guarachi, earned their first win over No. 55-ranked Iowa pair, Lynne Poggensee-Wei and Sonja Molner, 8-4.
Alabama’s next trail of victories came by way of junior Taylor Lindsey and freshman Alex Clay, as they knocked a pair of Hawkeye’s out of flight, 8-2, while the Tide’s own Meritt Emery and Tiffany Welcher ended with an 8-3 win over Iowa as well later in the day.
“I think we had a really promising start to the season,” Lindsey said. “We played solid, which was very encouraging, and starting off like that really gives us something strong to build off. Honestly, it was just fun to be back out there competing.”
Posting the highest deficit of the day, the No. 32-ranked duo, sophomore Antonia Foehse and freshman Mary Anne Macfarlane, took Iowa senior Alexis Dorr and freshman Christina Harazin, 8-1.
In singles, No. 34 Guarachi swept junior Alexis Rodriguez, with a 6-0, 6-1 win, while Macfarlane had a bit of a scare, falling to 4-1 at the start of her match. Macfarlane quickly picked up the pace and added another W to the books with a 6-4, 6-1 triumph. McLane, Clay, Lindsey and Emery each polished off day one’s undefeated status with respective wins over their UCF opposition.
Day two went just as exceptionally as the first for the Tide. The doubles teams gained four wins over Central Florida.
Another singles victory went to Macfarlane, over Florida State’s Francesca Segarelli, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0(9), and to McLane as she overtook Seminole freshman Ruth Seaborne, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. Clay defeated FS senior Federica Suess, 6-4, 6-3, and Guarachi won her match, 6-3, 6-2. Emery ended the day with a one-sided match against freshman Manon Veldman 6-2, 6-1, rounding out 19 team wins in the tournament.
Mainz said this was a good tournament overall and a great measuring stick to show the team what can be improved even further. Each of the athletes stood out in completion for Mainz, but one stood out in the lineup.
“Alexa Guarachi had, I wouldn’t call it a breakthrough weekend but she looked strong,” Mainz said. “Through the course of the weekend, she picked up a little more confidence, just a little bit more speed and had two very dominant singles matches. Alexa just stayed on it. She stayed disciplined and was able to really play her game, and I liked the way she finished.”
Alabama plays again on Jan. 28 at Baylor for the ITA Kick-Off weekend in Waco, Texas. The team is still cautiously riding high on its big wins from MLK weekend and has even higher hopes for the outcome of this coming dual meet.
“I have been looking forward to this match against Baylor since the beginning of the fall,” Lindsey said. “I know that our team is ready to go play them, and I’m expecting big things. I really am.”
