The ITA-ranked No. 23 Alabama women’s tennis team is set to compete in the Southeastern Conference Championship on April 22 in Knoxville, Tenn.
Seeded in the No. 4 spot, the team has been granted a first-round bye. The Crimson Tide will face the winner of the No. 19 Vanderbilt vs. unranked Mississippi State match held on April 21 at 8 a.m. Central Time.
“I think we’re going to play Vanderbilt first round,” head coach Jenny Mainz said. “They’re going to be tough and they’re going to be ready for us. Not that they weren’t ready for us the first time, but they weren’t as hungry as they will be now.”
Vanderbilt swept the Bulldogs 7-0 in the early half of the season, and if the Commodores can put MSU away again, they will advance to play the Tide in the second round. Alabama defeated Vanderbilt in late March 4-3, adding the second of eight wins in its recent streak.
“We talk about the progression of the season a lot,” Mainz said. “The distance that we’ve come since January has been incredible. We’ve just got to be mentally sharp, and I feel like we’re well prepared. I don’t think we have to play outside of ourselves in any way this weekend. We just have to continue to do the things that we do well.”
Alabama has not been ranked this high in the region since 1993. The team most recently earned an impressive sweep over unranked SEC rival Auburn, 7-0.
“It was nice to come out and work for that last win,” Mary Anne Macfarlane said. “It’s really going to build up momentum for the SEC championships. This conference tournament will be a whole new experience and I’m very excited.”
Tide freshmen Alex Clay and Macfarlane will be competing on the regional level for the first time in their collegiate careers and from a coaching standpoint, Mainz is confident that the young contenders will be able to hold their ground this weekend against the upperclassmen.
“I think our freshmen are very ready and the testament is the season we’ve had,” Mainz said. “We’ve played a very high strength schedule and we’ve played the top of the SEC and you see those same teams in the top 10 in the country. They’ve both played the top part of the lineup, Alex at No.3 doubles with Taylor [Lindsey] and Mary Anne Macfarlane, playing at No. 1, has really kind of found her stride. She’s taken a few on the chin, but it’s very impressive that she’s shown resilience and really came back in the past three weeks.”
Mainz has also picked up a new motivational tool for the team to utilize for the remainder of the season. Her new goal for the Tide is to take each match as it comes and to remind each athlete that one point can be the game-changer.
“Put one good day on top of another good day, on top of another,” Mainz said. “I went out to Toni when she was struggling on Saturday and just did my hand gesture, one fist on top of the other, and told her just to put one solid point on top another and not to concern herself with the outcome. I feel like that’s what we’ve done a good job of as a team. Nothing changes, it just builds.”
