By Cameron Greenwood
Special to The Tuscaloosa News
The Alabama men’s tennis team will play No. 23 Tulane on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in the Tallahassee Regional.
The winner will face the winner of Friday’s first-round match between No. 12 Florida State and Alabama State in Saturday’s second round.
Alabama is coming off of an appearance in the SEC Tournament, where it defeated Auburn, 4-0, before upsetting No. 25 Kentucky, 4-1, to advance to the quarterfinals, where it fell to No. 19 Tennessee, 4-3.
The Crimson Tide is making its 18th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its first since 2013, when Alabama lost to San Diego 4-3 in the Los Angeles Regional.
Alabama features the No. 10 player in the nation, junior Mazen Osama, who earned All-American honors and was named to the All-SEC team last week.
Sophomore Edson Ortiz, Osama’s doubles partner, joined his teammate and was named to the All-SEC second team. The pairing is the No. 26-ranked duo in the nation, posting a record of 16-7.
Tulane heads into the matchup coming off of its first conference championship since 2005. The Green Wave also features the No.15 singles player, Constantin Schmitz.
