Two years after losing All-American Daria Panova – the winningest player in Oregon tennis history – the Oregon women’s tennis team is back in the national tournament.
In light of everything the team’s been through this year – losing two freshmen, competing with only six scholarship players, injury woes at the end of the season – and the massive overhaul it went through the year before when it started three brand new freshmen in every match, it’s almost a miracle that the Ducks have made it back to the tournament this quickly.
And while first-year head coach Paul Reber deserves props for his crisis management skills and the way he did the absolute best he could with the team he inherited, I think some credit should also go to Director of Tennis Nils Schyllander.
Schyllander headed the women’s team from 2002 until the end of last season, and was the assistant coach for four seasons prior to that. He led the team to the national tournament and a top-25 ranking, and nurtured talents like All-Americans Panova and Courtney Nagle who, as a doubles tandem, made it to the national quarterfinals in 2003.
But Schyllander has since set out to point his magic wand in another direction.
When men’s tennis coach Kevin Kowalik resigned at the end of last season and Schyllander was named director of tennis, he was faced with the choice of continuing as head coach of the women’s team or taking on coaching responsibilities for the men’s team and finding a new women’s coach.
The women’s team was coming off a good year in which they’d finished the season ranked 48th in the country and had barely missed out on postseason play.
With the men, Schyllander faced the challenge of rebuilding a team that had been through a couple of unsuccessful coaching changes and had languished below .500 for four years.
Schyllander chose to take on the men’s team because he felt that they needed him more. And he brought in a new assistant coach, six new freshmen and a whole new attitude.
The result has been a new and improved Oregon men’s tennis team. Unlike last year, when practices always had a dreary air to them and there was a distinct division between different groups of players, the Schyllander-led Oregon men are an energetic bunch who seem to genuinely enjoy being around each other.
With his upbeat nature, positive outlook on life and absolute insistence on unit cohesion, Schyllander has infused the men’s team with a palpable energy that resonates every time the guys step on the court.
The men finished the season with double-digit wins for the first time in five years (10-13 overall, 2-8 Pac-10). Even in the matches they lost, the Ducks never got blown off the court: They have only two 7-0 defeats this year, compared to the six 7-0 massacres the year before. Playing five freshmen in the starting lineup for most of the season, Oregon also has one of the youngest teams in the country. And the Ducks are a young team brimming with potential.
Belgian import Alex Cornelissen competed at No. 1 or No. 2 singles for most of the year, and he’s just 17. Freshman doubles team Marco Verdasco and Francisco Gallardo also fought their way unexpectedly into the quarterfinals at the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament last weekend.
Give Schyllander another couple of years with his army of freshmen, and the Oregon women won’t be the only Ducks in the ranks of national tennis elite.
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