The Alabama men’s tennis team will open Southeastern Conference play at home, hosting Ole Miss on March 1 and Mississippi State on March 3.

In its last time out the Crimson Tide competed in a doubleheader, where the Tide defeated the Furman Paladins and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 6-1.The match against Furman stopped a two-match losing streak for the Alabama.

“It was good to pick those two matches up right before going into SEC’s,” freshman Becker O’Shaughnessey said. “It definitely gave us a boost of confidence and they were both two solid teams.”

So far this season the Tide has competed in five doubleheader matches. Head coach George Husack said the doubleheaders have helped prepare the team for conference play.

“The goal was to make them comfortably uncomfortable,” Husack said. “Playing two matches in a day definitely does that. Whether it’s playing SEC or non-conference it makes them stronger mentally and physically as the season goes on.”

Playing in the SEC is no easy task, as 13 of the 14 schools are ranked, including Alabama, which is ranked 31st.

“The SEC is definitely a really tough conference; everyone plays really well,” junior Daniil Proskura said. “I feel like everybody on our team is playing well and ready to battle for every point against everyone else.”

Last season, Alabama finished with a 10-15 record and a 2-9 conference record. The Tide finished fifth in the SEC West last year, only ahead of Arkansas. O’Shaughnessey said the team is continuing to improve headed into a difficult conference schedule.

“SECs are really tough,” O’Shaughnessey said. “It’s going to be a big challenge, but I think the team can handle it; we have been working hard so we should do well this year.”

Ole Miss enters the match against Alabama ranked 13th in the country with a 5-2 record. Mississippi State comes into the match at 10-2 and is ranked 10th. The Tide enters SEC play with a 9-3 record.

Husack said there are three things the Tide needs to do to be successful in its first two conference matches.

“We need to play off of what we did against Furman and Southern Miss,” Husack said. “We have developed individual training plans for the SEC schedule so we need to stick to those basics and strengths and finally we just have to keep fighting and never stop.”

In order to be successful in SEC play O’Shaughnessey said the team needs to continue to work and give it everything they have.

“We just got to keep competing,” O’Shaughnessey said. “Keep competing and fighting, everybody has to do it as a team. We do that, the wins will come.”

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