It’s every Duck for himself or herself this week as both Oregon tennis teams head to Ojai, Calif., to compete in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships.
“At this point, it’s definitely much more of an individual goal,” said Markus Schiller, a senior on the men’s team. “I’m still competing for the school, but I don’t think the team really has a chance to do much.”
Schiller is currently ranked 88th in the country and hopes to scalp a couple of ranked players at the tournament in Ojai to boost his own chances of making the NCAA individual tournament.
According to men’s coach Kevin Kowalik, Schiller needs to move up in the rankings to somewhere between the 40s and 50s before he’ll have a legitimate shot at being selected for nationals.
“I need to either beat one top-ranked player, or two slightly lower ranked players, and I think I’ll be in better shape to make the NCAAs,” Schiller said.
Schiller will face Washington’s Jean-Noel Insausti in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament today. Insausti is ranked 90th in the country and holds a 16-4 singles records.
The Ojai tournament is an individual tournament in which players from all the Pac-10 schools compete for themselves without having to worry about any team dual matches.
There are two draws for both the men’s and women’s events. Kowalik said that the top draw consists of the top 32 players, while the bottom draw can be as big as it needs to be.
Aside from Schiller, the Oregon men have three other players in the top draw – Thomas Bieri, Mike Myrhed and Gustavo Loza. The rest of the Ducks’ roster will play in the other bracket.
Like Schiller, Dominika Dieskova from the Oregon women’s team is going to Ojai with the upcoming NCAA tournament in mind. Dieskova is ranked 45th in the country, and women’s coach Nils Schyllander said she has already earned a berth to nationals.
“Dominika’s already in nationals. But her and Ceci (Olivos, Dieskova’s doubles partner) have to have a great tournament in doubles at Ojai to make it into the doubles event at nationals,” Schyllander said. “If they play good, they can compete with anyone.”
The Duck women have three players in the tournament’s main singles draw – Dieskova, Olivos and Carmen Seremeta. The rest of the team will compete in the second draw. In the main doubles bracket, Dieskova and Olivos are scheduled to face UCLA’s Elizabeth Lumpkin and Alex McGoodwin on Friday.
But before that, Dieskova takes on 26th ranked Lindsey Nelson from USC today. They last clashed two weeks ago when Nelson beat Dieskova in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.
This time around, Dieskova is looking for revenge.
“I really want to beat her,” Dieskova said. “I’m really motivated, and I’m hoping that I’m going to be able to do against Nelson what I did against Suzi Fodor.”
Dieskova’s April Fool’s Day win against California’s Suzi Fodor, who is now ranked eighth in the country, stands as her proudest moment in what has turned out to be a stellar junior season.
The Slovakian native went 30-8 in doubles with Olivos, is 30-10 this season in singles, and was ranked as high as No. 26 in January.
“I’ve been practicing really hard, and I’ve been doing so much better at playing outdoors,” Dieskova said. “I think I’m ready to beat (Nelson).”
Two factors might make a difference between a win and a loss for Dieskova today.
Dieskova had problems with her serve in her defeat to Washington State’s Ekaterina Burduli on Sunday.
“On Sunday, my serve wasn’t as effective as it’s been in other matches this season,” Dieskova said. “And (Burduli) just took the risk and went for it.”
All season long, the quality of Dieskova’s serve has dictated the quality of her overall play.
Dieskova found success in her matches against Fodor and Stanford’s No. 11-ranked Amber Liu partly because she was serving well on both days. She says she’s looking to return to the same top form against Nelson.
But Dieskova has also been having hip problems recently. Her loose left hip was bothering her in Sunday’s loss to Burduli, and Dieskova is hoping the hip will hold up long enough for her to do some damage in Ojai.
“Right now, my hip is not really holding. It gets kinda dislocated, and it moves up. And it’s been bothering me a little in matches when I’ve played for longer than about 40 minutes,” said Dieskova, who had to call for a trainer midway through last Sunday’s match.
Despite Dieskova’s hip problems, Seremeta’s occasional back problems and Claudia Hirt’s ongoing shin splints, senior Jamie Marshall thinks that the team is surprisingly healthy for this point in the season.
Marshall begins the Ojai Tournament with a match against Washington’s Stephanie Svanfeldt today. She will also be playing doubles with junior Monica Hoz de Vila.
“I think everyone is actually a lot healthier than normal,” Marshall said. “In the last few years, our team is usually hunched over and limping by this point.
“Last year, Davina (Mendiburu) was dealing with her knee, and there was Dasha (Daria Panova) with her back problem. This year, we haven’t had many of the big injuries; it’s just the little ones. So I’m sure that helps.”
The women are certainly healthier than the Duck men, who will be playing in Ojai without senior Arron Spencer.
“Spencer is officially retired,” Kowalik said. “He’s played with shoulder problems all season long, and now he’s really just done.”