A year ago, Daria Panova, then a senior on the Oregon women’s tennis team, reached the NCAA Individual Championships. However, she made an early first-round exit after losing 6-1, 6-3 to Kentucky’s Sarah Foster.
This year, junior Dominika Dieskova has succeeded Panova as the Ducks’ tennis queen.
And for the past three weeks, Panova, now a student assistant coach, has been working out against Dieskova to help prepare her for success in the singles bracket of the NCAA Individual Championships that start in Palo Alto, Calif., Wednesday.
“I’ve had a great three weeks,” said Dieskova, who is ranked 42nd in the country. “We’ve worked a lot on my serve, and on the transition from indoors to outdoors. I’ve played full matches against Daria Panova and full doubles matches as well.
“(Panova) has been practicing with us, helping us out and playing matches against us. She’s not playing tournaments anymore, but she’s still in pretty good shape.”
Not only will Dieskova be competing in the singles bracket, she also earned an invite in the doubles with her partner, freshman Ceci Olivos. Since they found out that they had been invited to compete in the tournament, the duo has undergone an intensive training program.
“It’s been nice being able to focus on just two girls because when you practice as a team, it’s always like ‘Should we work on aggressiveness when the other one needs consistency?’” graduate assistant coach Monica Poveda said. “Instead of spending 10 minutes on just one thing, you have to split it because of what other people need.
“Lately, we’ve been able to do very focused, very specific training – just giving each of them what they really need.”
Poveda says the coaches have been trying to make Dieskova more aggressive.
“When Dominika gets aggressive, she can beat anyone in the country,” Poveda said. “And you’ve seen it in the matches she’s played against Amber Liu and Suzi Fodor. If she’s able to do that, she’ll do very well in Nationals.”
Dieskova reached her regular season peak-form at the end of March when she scored back-to-back wins against Liu, currently ranked No. 8 in the country, and No. 3 Fodor, who would go on to take the Pacific-10 Conference individual championship.
With Olivos, the coaches have spent the last few weeks trying to get her to change her game style.
“Ceci came to us as a baseliner, but we want to make her a more aggressive player,” Poveda said. “We’ve been practicing returns with her and trying to make her come to the net faster.”
Olivos currently holds the distinction of being the only freshman in Oregon’s history to ever make the doubles tournament in her first season.
Dieskova and Olivos are only the second Oregon duo to make it into the doubles event in the national tournament. The other pair to manage that feat was Panova and Courtney Nagle, who reached the quarterfinals in the 2002-03 season.
While this might be her first year in the collegiate arena, Olivos is no stranger to big tournaments and high-pressure environments.
“I’ve played with the Mexican national team in the Fed Cup,” said the 20-year-old from Puebla, Mexico. “This feels a lot like the Fed Cup. You know you’re representing your country, or your school, and you’re part of a team.”
The Federation Cup is women’s tennis’ equivalent of the Davis Cup on the men’s circuit. It is a highly lauded ITF tournament that gives players a chance to play for their country. Notable Fed Cup alums include tennis royalty such as Billie Jean King, Steffi Graf and Justine Henin-Hardenne.
Another factor that might help put the freshman at ease on college tennis’ biggest stage is the knowledge that Poveda will be coming along for the ride and watching her every move on the court.
Poveda has proved to be a steadying source of support for Olivos all season.
During matches, Poveda often sits down with Olivos between sets, talking to her and psyching her up. “Vamos Ceci, vamos!” (Spanish for “Let’s go”) has become a frequent refrain as Poveda sits on the sideline trying to pump up her young charge.
The freshman said the assistant coach does have a definite calming effect on her whenever she’s frazzled in her matches.
“I think it’s got to do with the fact that she’s from Bolivia, and I’m from Mexico. Both Latin American countries. And she’s a woman also. We can identify with each other,” Olivos said. “For example, the way we train back home. The coaches push you harder. They’re more strict. I think that’s why she understands me.
She knows the way we’ve practiced before, and in tournaments.”Poveda agreed.
“It’s all about chemistry,” she said. “Because we’re from the same culture, it makes it easier for her to talk to me. Ceci’s a very family-type person. And we have the same values.
“It’s a consequence of where we come from. Also, her older sister is 29, and I’m 27, and she has such a bond with her sister. Maybe she takes me as an older sister too.”
Coincidentally, Poveda has a 22-year-old younger sister who is also named Cecilia. So it’s easy for her to regard Olivos as her younger sister too.
“But everyone on the team is like – well I won’t say my ‘little Ducks’ – but they’re all my little sisters that I have to take care of,” Poveda said. “And that’s why there’s such a family-like bond on the team.”
After three weeks of intensive work, Poveda thinks these two little Ducks are ready to compete at the national level.
“Right now they’re energetic, highly motivated and aggressive. This is the best I’ve ever seen them practice,” Poveda said. “They have their goal in mind right now. They’re just thinking about one thing: to win it. And I think they have a shot.”