Day One Is In The Books
Alabama Women's Tennis Captures 8 Wins Yesterday
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Eight victories in all yesterday. The University of Alabama women's tennis team captured six singles win and two doubles victories yesterday after the first day of competition of the 2016 ITA Southern Regional Championships at the Alabama Tennis Stadium on Friday. The event is scheduled to run four days, ending on Monday. There are a total of 18 different schools participating in the tournament.
The Crimson Tide doubles pair of junior Smith Hinton and senior Danielle Spielmann got the day rolling for Bama with an 8-3 victory over McNeese's State pair of Julia Kral and Hannah Brett. The second doubles win came with senior Joanna Savva pairing with Andrea Mastrippolito of Nichols State to defeat Jacksonville State's Claudia Marsala and Malin Buechner by an 8-4 score.
Alabama's 18th-ranked singles player Erin Routliffe defeated Samford's Ellie Gerlach in the second round of the A singles main draw 6-1, 6-3. Andie Daniell came out on top of Jazmin Britos of Louisiana Tech 6-4, 62 in the second round. Both Routliffe and Daniell received a bye in the first round.
Freshman Maddie Pothoff defeated Polina Ivanova of Northwestern State 6-3, 6-3. It was Hinton over Louisiana Lafayette's Elena Sava 6-2, 6-4 and then Spielmann recorded back-to-back wins over Louisiana Tech's Nadja Manjon 6-0, 7-6 (1) and then Anna Vrbenaka of Ole Miss 6-4, 6-4.
Hinton and Danielle are set to take on LSU's Ryann Foster and Skylar Holloway tomorrow at 9 a.m. CT as part of the second round of the A doubles main draw. Savva and Mastrippolito will face Elena Roca and Tjasa Jerse of Southern Miss at the same time in the second round of the B doubles main draw.
Today's competition begins with two doubles rounds at 9 a.m. CT, with singles following around noon or later.
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Tide Men's Swimming & Diving Place First
Defeat Missouri Tigers In First Road Test Of Season
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
In the first road meet of the young season, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide men's and omen's swimming and diving teams split at Missouri yesterday afternoon. The Alabama men took a 183-114 victory, while the Tide women fell 167-132.
Alabama head swimming and diving coach Dennis Pursley commented, "I was really pleased with how we performed today. This was probably the most complete team meet we've had since I've been at Alabama. I was very pleased with the really aggressive racing across the board. We won most of the close races and the ones we didn't win, we were fighting to the wall and charging home."
The Crimson Tide men advance to 2-0 on the season and 1-0 in Southeastern Conference competition while the Bama women go to 3-1 overall, 1-1 in the SEC. The Alabama men's team was sixth at the national championships last season while Missouri came in at eighth. For the women's teams, Missouri finished 11th last season and Alabama was 28th at the championships.
Pursley said, "Our spirit before, during and after the meet was finally where I've wanted it to be for the last four years. It's been getting better along the way and [yesterday] it was there throughout.
It was just a really satisfying meet."
Leading the Alabama men were senior Anton McKee and junior Luke Kaliszak. McKee picked up two individual wins, winning in both the 200 breaststroke (1:59.26) and the 400 individual medley (1:59.26). Kaliszak won the 100 backstroke (47.42) and swam legs on the winning 200 medley relay (1:26.92) and 200 freestyle relay (1:21.25).
It was senior Connor Oslin and freshman Robert Howard swimming legs on the winning 200 medley and freestyle relays, with senior Pavel Romanov completing the medley relay and senior Alex Gray anchoring the free relay.
Freshman Daniel Kober, senior Alex Gray, juniors Will Freeman, and Christopher Reid all posting victories for the men.
"It was just solid up and down the board," Pursley said. "The veterans performed well and we had some great performances from the rookies as well."
Winning three individual events, Alabama junior Mia Nonnenberg advanced her season total to eight wins. Nonnenberg picked up the women's first win of the day, taking top honors in the 1,000 freestyle (10:08.29), then earning victories in the 500 free (4:55.45) and the 400 individual medley (4:14.78).
Junior Bailey Scott captured her third win of the season in the 50 freestyle with a 23.23, while junior Hannah Musser picking up her fifth butterfly win of the season taking first place in the 100 butterfly.
Also posting a win for the Tide, in the 200 freestyle relay, were junior Temarie Tomley, sophomore Morgan Fleming, Musser and Bailey with a time of 1:32.07.
Pursley stated, "Our women responded to the challenge today and swam tough. Even in the last event, when they knew they couldn't win the meet, they still stepped up and won the relay and finished up on a positive note."
Alabama next travels to the Plains to take on in-state rival Auburn on Friday, November 4th with a scheduled start time of 1 p.m. CT.
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Tide Women's Golf Third Place
After Day One Of Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
The University of Alabama women's golf team sits in third place after the first day of competition yesterday at the Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational. The Bama gals shot a three-under par 285 on the day at the par-72, 6,379-yard Finley Golf Club in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Wake Forest is in first place after day one at six-under par (282), Ohio State is second at five-under par (283), Arkansas is fourth at two-under par (286) and North Carolina State is fifth at even par (288).
Individually for the Crimson Tide, sophomore Lauren Stephenson is tied for second after a four-under par 68 in the first round. Sophomore Cheyenne Knight is in a tie for seventh place at two-under par (70). Freshman Kristen Gillman is tied for 12th at one-under par (71). Senior Cammie Gray is in a tie for 57th with a four-over par 76, and senior Mia Landegren is tied for 86th with a seven-over par 79.
Today the Tide will be grouped with Wake Forest and Ohio State in the second round, starting with Alabama's Mia Landegren at 9:39 a.m. CT, followed by Cammie Gray (9:48 a.m.), Kristen Gillman (9:57 a.m.), Cheyenne Knight (10:06 a.m.) and Lauren Stephenson (10:15 a.m.).
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Supe Store Tide Tipoff Names Musical Act
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
The University of Alabama basketball/athletic program is proud to announce that Metro Boomin, record producer and DJ, has signed to be the featured musical artist to be featured as the musical act at the 2016 Supe Store Tide Tipoff event. This year's event has been set for October 21st, and will be held in Coleman Coliseum, with a 6 p.m. start time scheduled.
Fans will be able to get signed autographs from both the players and coaches at that time. All members of the men's and ladies teams and coaching staff will be stationed throughout the concourse for a 45-minute period. The teams will then be introduced at 7 p.m., followed by on-court activities which will involve students and representatives from both the men's and women's squads. A dunk contest has been scheduled, and will be performed in front of a panel of celebrity judges to be announced prior to the competition. In addition, there will be a skills competition and a three-point shootout.
Performing that night is Metro Boomin, as previously mentioned, and has worked with such celebrities as Drake, Future, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, Wiz Khalifa, Young Jeezy and others.
University of Alabama students will be admitted free, as well as season ticket holders for either the men's or women's basketball teams. General admission tickets for everyone else will be only $5.
All seating at the event will be first-come, first-serve general admission seating. UA students will have a choice to sit in the student section or walk down and stand on the floor for both the basketball portion and the entertainment portion of the night.
Tickets for Supe Store Tide Tipoff, along with men's and women's basketball season tickets, can be purchased online at RollTide.com/Tickets, by phone at 1-877-TIDETIX (843-3849) or at the Alabama Ticket Office, located in the lobby of Coleman Coliseum.
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Cornerback Pat Surtain Jr. Says Bama At Top Of List
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| Patrick Surtain, Jr. Photo Credit: Scout |
University of Alabama football is one of six programs in the nation that junior cornerback Patrick Surtain, Jr. is looking at. Surtain, a 6' 2" very physical corner, runs the 40 in 4.57 and has some really good ball skills. He is considered one of the more heavily-coveted junior prospects in the nation right now.
Sartain is the No. 32 ranked junior in the country, and holds offers from more than 20 schools right now. But there are six that have his attention. One, of course, is the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Also in his top six are LSU, Miami, FSU, Ohio State and Clemson.
What he is really interested in is early playing time, and says he is currently evaluating that very thing among the six schools he has listed as his favorites. "I'm evaluating if they can play me early on, " Sartain said. "Maybe by mid-season [freshman year] I would have the chance to start."
Of course the University of Alabama is making a big splash this season with the number of freshmen playing in the skill positions. No wonder he has the Tide at the top of his list.
He doesn't plan to commit until his senior season.
