Sunday, 03/14/2010

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 32 Alabama men’s tennis team (6-7, 0-2 SEC) will be in search of its first Southeastern Conference win and road win of the season when it heads out for a pair of league matches this weekend. The Crimson Tide will face No. 50 South Carolina (6-4, 0-2 SEC) in Columbia on Friday, March 12 at 2:00 p.m. (CST) and No. 7 Florida (10-2, 2-0 SEC) in Gainesville on Sunday, March 14 at 1:00 p.m. (CST).

 

“We continue another challenging stretch this weekend against South Carolina and Florida,” said head coach Billy Pate. “Despite tough losses to Georgia and Tennessee, our team is encouraged and looks forward to being back on the court this weekend."

 

Last weekend, Alabama dropped its opening two conference matches of the season, falling 4-2 to No. 9 Georgia and 4-1 to No. 2 Tennessee. On Friday against the Bulldogs, senior Saketh Myneni and sophomore Michael Davis collected an 8-6 victory on court one, but Georgia took courts two and three to win the doubles point. The Bulldogs picked up two straight sets wins in singles to go ahead 3-0, but freshman Jarryd Botha and senior Houssam Yassine claimed matches at the No. 3 and 5 spots, respectively, to close the score to 3-2. No. 105 Nate Schnugg secured the victory for Georgia, defeating sophomore Ricky Doverspike 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4.

 

On Sunday against the Volunteers, Tennessee quickly took control of the match by winning the doubles point. The Volunteers then picked up three wins in singles, all in straight sets, to put the match away. Yassine was the only player for the Tide to collect a singles win, knocking off No. 88 Matt Brewer 7-6(4), 6-2. Myneni bounced back from a disappointing loss on Friday to put up a fight against No. 4 John-Patrick Smith, winning the first set 6-4, but falling behind 5-1 in the second before play was stopped.

 

South Carolina enters the weekend having lost its last two matches, dropping road contests to No. 62 LSU and No. 42 Arkansas last weekend. The Gamecocks fell to 1-4 in matches away from Columbia, but hold an impressive 5-0 record at home this season. They have struggled against ranked opponents this season though, only managing one win in five matches. Senior Diego Cubas is the only player for South Carolina ranked in singles, coming in at No. 65 in the latest poll. The Gamecocks do not have any doubles pairs currently holding a national ranking. Alabama holds a slight 18-14 edge in the all-time series with South Carolina, including winning the last meeting in Columbia 6-1.

 

Florida has now won five matches in a row after opening up conference play with road sweeps of Arkansas and LSU. The winning streak also includes a 4-0 sweep of Georgia at the Wilson/ITA National Indoor Championships and a 5-2 home victory over No. 10 Illinois. The Gators are a perfect 6-0 at home this season, with the closest match being the 5-2 win over the Illini. Florida is led in the singles rankings by Alexandre Lacroix, the No. 6 player in the latest rankings. Antoine Benneteau is also ranked for the Gators, checking in at No. 121. Florida has two doubles tandems ranked nationally, as Lacroix and Benneteau are currently No. 16, while Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Joey Burkhardt are No. 43. The Gators have dominated the series with the Tide, holding a 30-17 advantage including taking both meetings last season.

 

Alabama will play its third of three consecutive road matches next weekend, traveling to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt on Friday, March 21 at 1:00 p.m. (CST).