The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ON a cold and chilly St Valentine’s Day on Sunday, Sydney Clarke and her University of Arlington at Birmingham Blazers had nothing but love to offer Alabama A&M after pulling off a 7-0 whitewashing victory.

It was the second consecutive home victory for the Blazers, although they had to move the match from the George Ward Park to the Athletic Club Alabama in Huntsville. With the victory, the Blazers (1-3) extended their home winning streak to 10 matches dating back to April 6, 2019.

“Everyone was ecstatic. It was a great performance and everyone was on it that day, so I’m really happy that as a team, we’re finally getting a rhythm as we continue on in this season,” said Clarke, who is enjoying her freshman season.

The 19-year-old, having made the adjustment out of the Windsor School via CR Walker and the Albany Tennis Academy, continues to show her improvement as she went on to secure her singles match 7-5, 1-6, 1-0 (5) over Neha Ghare.

“I gave myself a challenge. I had to find my groove, but when I did at the end of the first set, I started to ease up a bit and gather myself to prepare for the rest of the match,” Clarke said.

“When I did, I went for it. It was an up and down match, but I got through it mentally and I was able to fight my way back into it.”

In doubles, Clarke teamed up with Alexandra Ferreira Da Silva, who returned from a Covid-19 hiatus, to make quick work of Ximena Duarte Ramirez and Nthabiseng Mashego in set score of 6-0.

“This was my teammate’s first match because she was in quarantine because of COVID-19, but to go out there, and we developed such a chemistry, to pull out the victory was really good,” Clarke said.

“We gelled well and together, we were able to keep it simple, go for our shots and we didn’t miss as much shots as we did when we played together earlier this year. So it was great to finally play with one of my teammates, who was out for quite a while.”

UAB, now 2-3 on the season, will travel to Tuscaloosa to play again today at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.

“If we keep this up, we would be able to be ranked when it comes to the playoffs,” Clarke said. “It would be nice to be ranked because we will have an advantage in the draw.

“So we are hoping to keep up this momentum and keep fighting as we take on these teams. Our goal is to make the conference finals, so we hope we can take advantage of these matches to set us up in the future.”