On April 11, the UCLA women’s tennis team was on a roll. The Bruins were No. 7 in the nation, having racked up an 18-3 record, and were preparing for a momentous showdown with No. 16 USC that had Pac-10 title implications.
However, for Yasmin Schnack, the team’s top player, things weren’t going quite as smoothly.
The Bruins’ sole senior, Schnack was in the midst of a disheartening stretch in which she had lost two of her three singles matches ““ a tiebreaker loss to Stanford’s Hilary Barte on April 3 and an unexpected loss to Arizona State’s Micaela Hein a week later ““ sending her confidence into a downward spiral.
“During practice that week I just wasn’t feeling very confident, and I was really scared to go on the court,” Schnack said. “I just broke down and started crying, and I told (coach Stella Sampras Webster), “˜Listen, Stella, I shouldn’t be in the lineup. Someone else should be in my place because I don’t deserve to be out there if I’m not in it 100 percent and someone will be.'”
Schnack’s season had experienced a few more road bumps than were expected for the player ranked No. 5 in the country for much of the season. Schnack’s record, at that point 12-7, was a far cry from dismal but still disappointing considering she had posted a stellar 17-4 mark the year before.
Facing a daunting match against USC’s Maria Sanchez, the No. 3 player in the nation who had defeated Schnack in three sets in their previous encounter at USC, Schnack looked for inspiration from her coach.
“I just know Yasmin too well and know that she can get through anything,” Sampras Webster said. “I just gave her a little push and let her know how much we believed in her and how much her teammates believed in her and that she could do it.”
Fueled by her newfound confidence, Schnack won the face-off against Sanchez 7-5, 7-5, winning nine straight games after getting herself into an early 0-5 deficit. Schnack used her deadly drop shot to its full effect against Sanchez, catching her off guard whenever she played too deep or was caught out of position.
Schnack hasn’t looked back since.
Schnack’s remarkable run through the Pac-10 Championships singles draw featured a rematch with Barte, who had beaten Schnack in intense tiebreaker matches in both of their encounters earlier in the season. However, Schnack got the last laugh with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over her nemesis to capture one half of her sweep of Ojai.
The other half would not have been possible without a longtime friend.
UCLA junior Andrea Remynse has known Schnack for nearly a decade. The two have been close friends ever since a 17-hour flight to Australia for a 14-and-under United States Tennis Association team tournament brought them together.
Remynse and Schnack continued to run into each other in junior tournaments across the country. Remynse was considering Miami, Georgia Tech and Virginia, and probably would have never found her way to UCLA had it not been for a last-minute phone conversation with her friend.
“I wasn’t even planning on taking a visit to UCLA,” Remynse said with a laugh. “I was like, “˜I don’t want to go the West Coast. I don’t want to go that far from home.’ And (Schnack) was like, “˜They don’t even need to know that. Just come on a recruiting trip and we’ll hang out.'”
Schnack’s invitation turned out to be detrimental for other doubles teams in the nation ““ Schnack and Remynse have formed a fearsome tandem that has compiled a 36-7 record over the past two years, including a 19-2 mark this season, all while playing in the highly-competitive No. 1 spot on the team. The duo is currently No. 4 in the nation.
“I think that (our friendship) definitely helps us in doubles because we can talk to each other about anything,” Schnack said. “If I have to make her laugh to get her loose, I’ll do that. If she has to yell at me to make me play better, then she does that.”
Schnack and Remynse rampaged through the Pac-10 doubles draw, making short work of every opponent in their path. The two never conceded more than two games in a single match and, in Schnack’s words, “annihilated” Stanford’s Barte and Lindsay Burdette 6-1, 6-0 in the finals.
Even though Schnack has had a great deal of success at the collegiate level, in professional women’s tennis, players are considered old when they hit their late 20s. Schnack turned 22 on May 4 and faces the same problem that is presented to every other college tennis player with professional aspirations: missing out on four potential years of experience and conditioning on the pro circuit.
Another of Schnack’s main concerns about joining the professional ranks is the sheer size and strength of the athletes that await her.
“I know a lot of (college athletes) try, but they don’t do as well because it’s such a different level of competition,” she said.
Schnack, said that if she had the final say on her career several years ago, she would have turned pro at the young age of 15 or 16 and very well may have burned out like so many before her. However, her parents, William and Candida, suggested that she give college a try.
“I played quite a few pro tournaments and didn’t have that much success,” Schnack said. “I felt, realistically, it would be more practical for me to go to college, get an education and see how I felt about tennis afterwards.”
Sampras Webster could not have been happier that Schnack made the decision to become a Bruin.
“Yas’ career here has been unbelievable,” Sampras Webster said. “She’s been a big contribution to why we’ve done so well these last four years. To see the way she’s grown and led this team this year has been great. She’s going to definitely be missed.”
Schnack is heading into her last hurrah as a Bruin ““ the 2010 NCAA Tournament, which starts Friday with a first-round match against Army at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Her resume already boasts an impressive 57-18 singles record, a Pac-10 Player of the Year honor, Pac-10 individual titles in both doubles and singles and a national team title. So the question remains: Is she satisfied with her time in Westwood?
Schnack paused before answering.
“I’m satisfied,” she said. “But there are three more titles ““ team, individual and doubles ““ that I’m looking forward to closing out this season with.”