Duck Diary No. 1 - Introductions
Duck Diary #1
Hello Duck Fans! Welcome to another year of Oregon’s men’s tennis as well as another year of my duck diary. My job will be to once again chronicle this year’s journey through the good, the bad, and the ugly of our battles on court and off, our wins and losses, as well as whatever tomfoolery that I think may entertain you.
Bur first let me introduce you to this year’s team and coaching staff. There are many familiar faces coming back this year as well as some new ones. Some of you tennis fanatics who may have been out for a nice little hit and giggle may have already run into our new assistant coach, Sweden’s version of the Terminator, aka Jonas Piibor. He literally looks and sounds like Arnold from his golden years, so if you need a good ice breaker when introducing yourself to him just ask him to lay out one of Arny’s trademark lines. But in all seriousness, he’s a great coach and guy and if you run into him please give him a warm Oregon Duck welcome. Back for his third year as head honcho is Nils Schyllander.
Now on to the team, which comprises of three freshmen, two sophomores, three juniors, and one glorious senior. First the freshies, we’ve got two guys who hail from the deep southeast pacific. The first is from Japan by way of Miami, he’s got so many nicknames that it will blow your mind, not to mention a one handed backhand that makes all of us two handers wish we had one - introducing Sho “THE SHOW” Higuchi (heh-gooch-eeee). Next up, we have the smooth but deadly, forehand whipping animal from Jakarta - Ayrton “Bow Wow” Wibowo. Yes, say that name three more times, its fun, I know. Rounding out the freshmen class and our newest member, hailing from Spain, is Jose’ “Pepe” Izquierdo.
Now on to the Sophomores. standing at 6-foot-5, competing for the second year in a row for the Pac-10’s “most likely to make a racket look like a child’s toy in his hand because of his size” award, as well as our newly appointed team captain for the 2008-2009 season, Duncan “Man-Child” McDonald-Korth. His counterpart sophomore also hailing from the U.S.A., Doug “I don’t care what anyone says, Jay Cutler is still the man” Mayeda.
Now on to the dominating class of our team, the juiors. First, hailing from Madrid, the always fashionable and flashy, 2007-2008 Pac-10 honorable mention - Marcos “El Torro” Verdasco. Next up, his roommate, the always fiery and intense but fun loving guy from Belgium, Alex “Waffle” Cornelissen. And finally, rounding out the Junior class, is myself, a fellow Oregonian like most of you readers, Ric Mortera.
Now to our lone senior. Probably the most photogenic Duck, as well as one of our best competitors, and still holder of the overall team GPA and genius award, Mike “Spaghetti Man” Myrhed.
Well there you go Duck fans, those are the names you will be seeing going into battle for us this season. The best part of all of this is that, as excited as I know you all are after these tantalizing introductions, our first pair of matches start on Friday, January 16th, opening first with Coach Schyllander’s alma mater, Northern Arizona at 10 a.m. That match is followed by an evening match-up against Portland State at 6 p.m. That’s right, two matches for the price of one (FREE!), so we hope you’re all as excited as we are. We have been working hard and want you all to be a part of what we hope will be a tremendously successful year. So sport your favorite green and yellow outfits and come support Duck Tennis starting this Friday. I have a feeling this year is going to be a fun ride.
What to look for on the next duck diary: complete recap of the NAU and Portland State matches as well as our first road trip of the year to Boise State to take on the Broncos. And yes, don’t worry I didn’t forget, due to popular demand, the return of Marco’s Fantastic Cheesecake Sweepstakes! (In case you may have forgotten, the record stands at 57 seconds).
All this to come on another exciting edition of Duck Diary. Thanks for reading and we hope to see all of you on Friday. As always, GO DUCKS!
Yours Truly,
Ric Mortera
Hello Duck Fans! Welcome to another year of Oregon’s men’s tennis as well as another year of my duck diary. My job will be to once again chronicle this year’s journey through the good, the bad, and the ugly of our battles on court and off, our wins and losses, as well as whatever tomfoolery that I think may entertain you.
Bur first let me introduce you to this year’s team and coaching staff. There are many familiar faces coming back this year as well as some new ones. Some of you tennis fanatics who may have been out for a nice little hit and giggle may have already run into our new assistant coach, Sweden’s version of the Terminator, aka Jonas Piibor. He literally looks and sounds like Arnold from his golden years, so if you need a good ice breaker when introducing yourself to him just ask him to lay out one of Arny’s trademark lines. But in all seriousness, he’s a great coach and guy and if you run into him please give him a warm Oregon Duck welcome. Back for his third year as head honcho is Nils Schyllander.
Now on to the team, which comprises of three freshmen, two sophomores, three juniors, and one glorious senior. First the freshies, we’ve got two guys who hail from the deep southeast pacific. The first is from Japan by way of Miami, he’s got so many nicknames that it will blow your mind, not to mention a one handed backhand that makes all of us two handers wish we had one - introducing Sho “THE SHOW” Higuchi (heh-gooch-eeee). Next up, we have the smooth but deadly, forehand whipping animal from Jakarta - Ayrton “Bow Wow” Wibowo. Yes, say that name three more times, its fun, I know. Rounding out the freshmen class and our newest member, hailing from Spain, is Jose’ “Pepe” Izquierdo.
Now on to the Sophomores. standing at 6-foot-5, competing for the second year in a row for the Pac-10’s “most likely to make a racket look like a child’s toy in his hand because of his size” award, as well as our newly appointed team captain for the 2008-2009 season, Duncan “Man-Child” McDonald-Korth. His counterpart sophomore also hailing from the U.S.A., Doug “I don’t care what anyone says, Jay Cutler is still the man” Mayeda.
Now on to the dominating class of our team, the juiors. First, hailing from Madrid, the always fashionable and flashy, 2007-2008 Pac-10 honorable mention - Marcos “El Torro” Verdasco. Next up, his roommate, the always fiery and intense but fun loving guy from Belgium, Alex “Waffle” Cornelissen. And finally, rounding out the Junior class, is myself, a fellow Oregonian like most of you readers, Ric Mortera.
Now to our lone senior. Probably the most photogenic Duck, as well as one of our best competitors, and still holder of the overall team GPA and genius award, Mike “Spaghetti Man” Myrhed.
Well there you go Duck fans, those are the names you will be seeing going into battle for us this season. The best part of all of this is that, as excited as I know you all are after these tantalizing introductions, our first pair of matches start on Friday, January 16th, opening first with Coach Schyllander’s alma mater, Northern Arizona at 10 a.m. That match is followed by an evening match-up against Portland State at 6 p.m. That’s right, two matches for the price of one (FREE!), so we hope you’re all as excited as we are. We have been working hard and want you all to be a part of what we hope will be a tremendously successful year. So sport your favorite green and yellow outfits and come support Duck Tennis starting this Friday. I have a feeling this year is going to be a fun ride.
What to look for on the next duck diary: complete recap of the NAU and Portland State matches as well as our first road trip of the year to Boise State to take on the Broncos. And yes, don’t worry I didn’t forget, due to popular demand, the return of Marco’s Fantastic Cheesecake Sweepstakes! (In case you may have forgotten, the record stands at 57 seconds).
All this to come on another exciting edition of Duck Diary. Thanks for reading and we hope to see all of you on Friday. As always, GO DUCKS!
Yours Truly,
Ric Mortera
