Now, four years after she first entered the realm of team tennis, Dieskova believes that she will re-enter the professional tennis world upon graduation next winter, having learned some valuable lessons. Mainly, she says she’s mellowed out.
"I learned to say to my opponent, ‘Good job, good point,’” Dieskova says. But most college tennis coaches agree that getting these individualistic players to relax their them-against-me view of the tennis world enough to buy into the mindset of playing as a team can be challenging.
“The team element is very important, but it’s a harder sell to a kid,” says Kevin Epley, the women’s coach at the College of William & Mary and a close friend of Oregon Director of Tennis Nils Schyllander.
“We’re going after these seventeen-year-old girls who’ve been coddled their whole lives and have had childhoods where the world revolves around them, and it’s all about them winning and succeeding,” Epley says. “We have to rewire kids to understand that in college it’s a team sport and that you’re part of something greater than yourself. Once they make that transition, they find it more rewarding.”
Under Schyllander, who coached the women for seven years before he took over the men’s team this year, Oegon made the postseason five times and rose to become a top-thirty program nationally. Within the Pacific-10 Conference, the Ducks gained a reputation as one of the most cohesive, team-oriented environments on the college tennis circuit. Word spread thatthe up-and-coming Oregon women’s tennis program offered not just a shot at national success, ut also a fun college experience within a supportive family-oriented team system.
"We have to rewire kids to understand that in college it's a team sport and that you're part of something greater than yourself."
“I wanted to be on a team that was a team,” says Seremeta, who signed with Oregon two years ago despite offers from tennis powerhouses like Epley’s William & Mary, University of California at Berkeley, a perpetual national title contender, and more academicall prestigious schools like Columbia. Seremeta originally pegged UC Berkeley as her first-choice school, but the Bears slipped to fifth on her list after she took her recruiting visit and realized how individualistic the team was.
“You could tell from the recruiting trips that some teams just weren’t very close — there were some girls who would bicker, and there was just overall conflict within the team,” Seremeta says. “This team was incredibly close. They did everything together, and I liked Nils a lot.” Schyllander stresses teamwork over competitiveness, his mantra being that “the seventh player on the team is every bit as important as the first.”
After matches, four of the six women go home to a big seven-bedroom house four blocks from the Oregon tennis facility. Seremeta is the only American in an international household with Hirt, Olivas, and Dieskova.
Between practice, time spent together on the road at away matches, and other mandatory team events, one would think the women would want nothing more at the end of every day than to find some space away from each other. But with this team, that’s not the case. “A lot of teams are kind of cliquey,” says Seremeta, who explains that on most teams, players usually end up breaking into little groups. “We don’t have that at all.” “On this team, it’s always family first,” says Duck alumnus Janice Nyland, who played tennis for Oregon from 1998 to 2002.
Twenty-six-year-old Nyland, whom the team affectionately calls “grandma,” is another example of how the familial ties created during a player’s playing years continue to endure long beyond graduation. “I think it’s a matter of friendship. All these girls that I played with, I would consider myself friends with them in addition to being teammates,” Nyland says. “I don’t think that’s true for a lot of teams.”
Even though Nyland graduated before most of the current players got to Oregon, she lives with Powaska, hangs out with the girls on a regular basis, and comes to every home match to cheer on the team.
“I’m still in contact with all my teammates,” Nyland says. “We have our own picture galleries, we’re in email contact on a list that has everyone’s name on it, and we talk to each other about everything. “Tennis is over, and we’re now all out conquering a different world, but we’re still on a thirty-year plan for Oregon women’s tennis to bring peace to the world,” she jokes.
The plan for the Ducks to take over the world is in full force in the locker room as the current team tries to figure out an acceptable compromise to their wardrobe conundrum. Dieskova, one of the two seniors in the group, tries to direct the discussion by throwing out suggestions of all their possible wardrobe options.
"All these girls that I played with, I would consider myself friends with them in addition to teammates."
Finally, with some muttering and residual murmurs of dissent, the Ducks settle on the fluffy, meshy skirt that Powaska wanted to begin with, a white shirt with lime trim for their doubles matches, and the lime tank top for the singles matches.
As the girls begin shoving rackets into equipment bags and pulling on sweats in preparation to head out to the courts, Reber heaves a sigh of relief, leans back against the wall, looking drained, and makes a mental note to follow through on his offer to get the team more match clothes — anything to avoid another lengthy discussion like this one.
In his short time with the team, he’s learned that the women are familiar enough with each other that they won’t hesitate to squabble like sisters over the little things — wardrobe options, for instance — that seem pressing at the time, but that never matter in the long run. So a team consensus is usually the best way to go.
“We pick out our match outfits together, and to not waste time, Paul decided that for each match, there will be one person picking the outfit, which is really not working too well,” Powaska says with a wry grin,“I mean like for the Denver match, when it was my turn to choose the outfit, of course I’m gonna pick something I like. But Ceci will say it’s too big for her, Baba will say it’s too short for her, Hozi won’t even know what I’m talking about, and Claudia will say yes and wear something else,” Powaska says, breaking out into giggle as the absurdity of the situation hits her.
“So yeah, we should just decide as a team.”
Below: With eager forks, the women dig into a slice of cake courtesy of Oregon coach Paul Reber at one of their pre-match dinners.
