The Alabama men’s tennis team defeated Winthrop University by a score of 6-1 on a chilly Sunday night.
During the doubles matches, both teams showed frustration as the matches went on. The first pairing for the Tide was senior Saketh Myneni and sophomore Michael Davis who won their match 8-5 to jump start the winning ways for the Tide during the meet.
Senior Houssam Yassine and junior Trey Watson broke Winthrop’s serve at 4-3 and then cruised to an 8-4 victory. The final doubles match of the day was freshman Jarryd Botha paired with sophomore Creighton Blanchard. After a hard-fought match, they prevailed victorious by a score of 8-6, finishing off a sweep of the Eagles in the doubles matches.
“We’re playing good in doubles, which is going to be essential for us to have success,” said head men’s tennis coach Billy Pate.
Alabama carried the confidence from their doubles matches into their singles matches as they routed Winthrop 5-1.
Botha secured the first victory in singles competition by cruising to victory by a score of 6-2, 6-0. Next, Myneni locked up a victory by a score of 6-1, 6-3 and was followed by his doubles partner, Davis, who claimed a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
With half of the matches played, Alabama held a 4-0 advantage over Winthrop, which grew to 5-0 as Ricky Doverspike broke serve at 5-5 of the second set to take the match 6-3, 7-5. However, the shutout was lost on court six when Ian Caldwell fell to Liran Levy 6-2, 6-4.
The match of the day, which happened to be the last match, slated sophomore Michael Thompson against Dejon Bivens.
Thompson took the first set with ease by a score of 6-1. However, the second set swayed back and forth. The set even saw Thompson get called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which granted Bivens a point.
At the end of the second set, the two players found themselves tied at six going into the tiebreaker. As the temperature dropped, Thompson hit clutch shots to take control of the game and eventually claimed victory by a score of 7-6(3).
Despite his team’s dominating performance, Pate said he was worried heading into this game and saw some things which gave him cause for concern.
“It was a huge win,” he said. “But after Friday, I was concerned because we came out a little flat today.”
On Friday, Alabama picked up a 4-2 victory over No. 16 Pepperdine, including hard-fought matches in doubles and singles competition. The Tide took two of three in the doubles category and was neck and neck with Pepperdine until Davis clinched victory with three-set thriller by a score of 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-2.
Pate said even though he is excited after this successful weekend, he still found areas that concerned him. He said his team had trouble staying composed emotionally and played sloppily in certain aspects.
The Tide will aim to stay perfect at home next weekend as they welcome the Georgia and Tennessee Friday and Sunday.
