The weather in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was below 50 degrees, but the Alabama women’s team brought the heat inside the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.

The Crimson Tide hosted the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in a doubleheader this weekend and walked away with victories in both matches.

UAB (6-1)

Doubles (1-0)

The early-morning match against the Blazers started off well for the Crimson Tide. The match on Court 1 went unfinished, but the doubles duos were quick to put up the first point for their team.

Freshman Petra Sedlackova and sophomore Anna Parkhomenko were the first to finish their doubles match. The underclassmen’s chemistry was on fire as they defeated UAB’s Alexandra da Silva and Vanessa Mellynchuk 6-1.

Graduate students Kasia Pitak and Ola Pitak were the second to finish against UAB, defeating Adela Wasserbauervoa and Jana Hecking on Court 3. The veteran sisters started with a 4-1 lead and gave up one more game before finishing out the match 6-2.

Singles (5-1)

Ola Pitak was the first to shut her opponent down with a quick 6-0, 6-1 victory over Wasserbauerova. Parkhomenko followed shortly after with a mirroring win, 6-1, 6-0. These wins brought the Crimson Tide to a 3-0 lead in the match against the Blazers.

Sedlackova was the third to win her match, but it was no easy feat. The Czech Republic native shut out her opponent in the first set 6-0, but UAB’s Sydney Clarke did not back down. Sedlackova trailed early in the second set, but after some words of encouragement from Alabama head coach Jenny Mainz, she fought back and took the game 6-3.

Sophomore Loudmilla Bencheikh’s match was no walk in the park either as she faced Hecking. Bencheikh led the first set 3-2 before dropping one to Hecking and then fighting back for a 6-3 win. Bencheikh started the second set shaky but still managed to pull the win 6-3, pushing the Crimson Tide’s overall lead to 5-0.

Kasia Pitak dropped her match to UAB, giving the Blazers their only win of the day. Sophomore Anne Marie Hiser was able to close out the match with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Enya Ratkic.

Mainz was satisfied with the performance of her team and looked forward to their next match.

“We’ve been working on playing more aggressively in doubles and it showed today,” Mainz said. “We had a good start in singles and kept the pressure on them.”

Chattanooga (5-2)

Doubles (2-0)

After a two-hour break, the Crimson Tide were back on the courts to face Chattanooga. The Mocs’ doubles duos came in and put heavy pressure on Alabama.

The sophomore Hiser-and-Bencheikh duo were the first to finish against sophomores Callie Billman and Jessie Young. The pair started out with a one-game lead before tying the set at 3 all. After a short break, the Crimson Tide buckled down and took down the Mocs 6-3 before supporting their teammates.

The Pitak sisters started the set 3-1 before Emma Van Hee and Coco Bosman brought the heat. The set went back and forth before the graduate students turned up the heat and shut the Mocs down.  

A 6-5 matchup on Court 1 with Sedlackova and Parkhomenko went unfinished. The Crimson Tide led 1-0 in the match.

Singles (3-2)

After a short break following her doubles win, Bencheikh brought a lot of energy into her next match and defeated her opponent Nicole Abel 6-2, 6-1. 

Kasia Pitak’s win in her singles match was fueled by the fans as her match went to three sets. The match was intense for Pitak as she shut out Bosman 6-0 in the first set but dropped the second 3-6. Pitak received a pep talk from her coach, and her teammates inspired her as she went into the last set. 

Pitak only let up one game in the final stretch, winning the final set 6-1.

“We challenged the team to play with urgency and to be ready to compete from start to finish with Chattanooga,” Mainz said. “The team did a better job in singles, getting their teeth into the matches. I thought the matches were competitive and pushed us to finish.”

Mainz was proud of her team in both matches and knew these teams weren’t a walk in the park. 

“Both UAB and Chattanooga were good, competitive matches,” Mainz said. “We’re making strides in the right direction but have a lot of work to do. We’ll get after it this week to prepare for our next business trip.”

The Crimson Tide will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana, for their next match on Feb. 5 against Tulane. The first serve will be at 1 p.m. CT. 

Questions? Email the Sports desk at [email protected].