On the team, they call him Baby Waffle.
Because Alex Cornelissen is 17 years old – young even for the freshman-loaded Oregon men’s tennis team – and from Belgium.
With a full head of red hair, and a perpetually earnest, wide-eyed expression, Cornelissen doesn’t look very menacing. Until he gets into his ready position on the tennis court.
If the 6-0, 6-1 drubbing he dealt Linfield’s Ian McGrath last weekend is any indication, the soft-spoken Cornelissen transforms into one of the Ducks’ most lethal weapons as soon as he sets foot on the court.
“He’s very confident on the court. He knows he’s good,” Director of Tennis and men’s coach Nils Schyllander said. “Alex is very talented player who can hurt you from all over the court. He’s a true shot-maker.”
Cornelissen only joined the team at the beginning of winter term, but Schyllander already thinks that the freshman, who was ranked third in Belgium at one point in his junior career, will make an impact for the Ducks this year.
Schyllander said Cornelissen will likely play in the number one or number two roster position for most of this season.
Cornelissen first met Schyllander when the Oregon coach flew to Belgium last summer to see if Cornelissen would be interested in signing with the Ducks.
“This Belgian guy who’d played college tennis distributed my video to colleges in the U.S. and Oregon, Washington and Arizona State responded,” Cornelissen said. “I heard this was a school with a very good academic and athletic level, and Nils came to Belgium, he was very kind and he got me into this.”
Cornelissen and the rest of the 11-member-strong Oregon men’s tennis team will play Gonzaga today, before taking on Nevada and Idaho on Saturday.
The Oregon women’s tennis team is away for the weekend. The No. 42 Ducks take on 54th-ranked Texas Tech today, and then play No. 44 Alabama on Saturday in Lubbock, Texas.
“We’ve got some kids playing extremely well right now,” women’s coach Paul Reber said. “Both Texas Tech and Alabama are ranked around where we are, but I think we’re the better team.”
Oregon started the season 2-0 after shutting out Montana State and Portland 7-0, 7-0 at home last weekend. Those two matches gave senior leadoff woman Dominika Dieskova the Oregon record for most career matches played.
Dieskova was ranked No. 26 in the preseason rankings, but begins the season unranked in singles because she was injured in the fall, and did not play in enough matches to qualify for rankings.
With 19 more singles wins this season, the Slovakian native could also claim Oregon’s all-time career wins record.
A doubles win this weekend would also give Dieskova and sophomore doubles partner Ceci Olivos sole possession of the record for all-time career doubles wins. With a 34-12 record, Dieskova and Olivos are currently tied for first place with Sherry Fairgrieve and Kara Yoshida who accumulated a 34-25 record between 1992 to 1994.
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Cornelissen anchors strong Ducks lineup
Daily Emerald
January 25, 2007
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