Men's tennis falls to Washington in first day of weekend event

The Alabama men’s tennis team opened the ITA Kick-Off Weekend Event against the Washington Huskies Friday morning but fell short of victory, 4-2. The Crimson Tide got out to a strong start to the day after capturing doubles play with two victories.

Starting with Spencer Richey and Mazen Osama, Alabama secured their first win of the day over Piers Foley and Wendell Watanabe, 6-2. Shortly following the end of that match, Ritchie Kruunenberg and Alexey Nesterov defeated Kawika Lam and Enzo Summer of Washington, 7-6 in a narrow victory.

It was not until singles play that the Huskies could turn the momentum and take a stranglehold of the match. Washington ran away with the singles match ups as Alabama was only able to take away a single victory. Although the scores may sway one to think each matchup was a blowout, most of the matches were very much competitive.

“Very competitive match from start to finish,” said head coach George Husack. “There were plenty of opportunities for either team to grab. Doubles came down to the wire and so did singles.”

Up next for the Crimson Tide is a matchup against arguably the best team in the SEC, the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon. Alabama will be able to stack up against one of the best teams in the country, and even though they dropped the match today, coach Husack believes not all was lost.

“We are getting stronger and improving with these moments. Lots of positives to take away and we will be ready again tomorrow,” said Husack.

SINGLES:

1. No. 60 Mitch Stewart (Washington) def. No. 63 Mazen Osama (Alabama) 6-3, 7-6

2. Enzo Summer (Washington) def. No. 78 Thibault Cancel (Alabama) 6-4, 6-3

3. Gal Halak (Washington) def. Spencer Richey (Alabama) 6-2, 0-6, 7-6

4. Alexey Nesterov (Alabama) def. Jake Douglas (Washington) 7-5, 7-6

5. Edson Ortiz (Alabama) vs. Joao Barra (Washington) 7-5, 3-1 DNF

6. Amit Batta (Washington) def. Langford Hills (Alabama) 6-2, 6-4

DOUBLES:

1. No. 32 Mazen Osama/Spencer Richey (Alabama) def. Piers Foley/Wendell Watanabe (Washington) 6-2

2. Ritchie Kruunenberg/Alexey Nesterov (Alabama) def. Kawika Lam/Enzo Summer (Washington) 7-6

3. Thibault Cancel/Edson Ortiz (Alabama) vs. Amit Batta/Jake Douglas (Washington) 6-6 DNF