Zador Balances Improved Doubles Play with Academics for Vikings

Head women's tennis coach Jay Sterling calls junior Eszter Zador, "the Net Ninja." Her teammates call her "Mama Zador."

Her relationship with hear teammates and her nurturing personality earned her the "mama" nickname; her improvement at the net in doubles earned her, "Net Ninja".

Whatever she's called, the native of Budapest, Hungary and 2018 recipient of the Barbara Coit-Yeager Endowed Scholarship for Athletics is making a mark as a Viking.

As a sophomore, the transfer from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee won 10 matches, mostly at lines two and three, and was part of the winning doubles team in eight matches at lines one and two.

At UW-M, she was named a Horizon League Singles Player of the Week and had a 7-1 doubles record. As a junior in Hungary, she was two-time Hungarian Student Olympics champion and two-time doubles finalist at the Hungarian National Championships where she also placed third in singles.

Sterling heard Zador was looking to transfer, knew something about the type of player and person she was and became interested.

"I knew about her twin brother Tamas, who plays for DePaul University, and I thought she wanted to transfer for all the right reasons," said Sterling.

Zador said some friends recommended the Viking program.

"When I decided to leave, I contacted some friends and one suggested Portland State. I was trying to find a school with a theatre program. Tennis and academic studies are both very important to me. I decided to transfer to Portland State because I found a better combination of them here and believe this university will give me a better basis for my future. Also, Portland is an exciting, European-style city which makes me feel at home," she said.

Zador's major is Theatre Arts (minoring in photography) and she's carrying a 3.86 cumulative GPA.

Sterling said that besides being a "great tennis player, she's a very nurturing type of teammate. She's selfless. She's a really good person on and off the court. That's why her teammates call her Mama Zador."

"Every time I got off Skype with her while we were talking about her coming here, I'd think, 'I'd love to have her as a teammate.' She's the kind of player you want on your team," Sterling said. "She's not only a great tennis player, but she's a nurturing personality."

For her part, Zador thrives on being part of a team. She likes the analytics of tennis and the strategy that comes with playing the game. While tennis is so often a solo game, having teammates that support her is important to Zador.

"I like the complexity of tennis. You can't just hit the ball, you have to make a plan," Zador said. "And tennis is an individual sport, but I love having a team around me who support me. I enjoy that."

Zador prefers singles tennis, but since arriving at Portland State Sterling has helped her become more comfortable with playing with a teammate on the court.

"I consider myself a better singles player, but coach really has tried to push me to be more confident in doubles," said Zador. "That's why he started calling me 'Net Ninja.' He started calling me that to make me more comfortable."

Comfort was part of it, but Sterling also wanted her to play more freely at the net. He said the major thing she needed to work on last year was her volleying.

"At the net in doubles, you just have to react, not think," said Zador. "You have to be in the right position. When I volley in singles, I have a pretty good idea what's going to come back. In doubles, you don't know what's coming back and I needed to improve on that."

At Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she had some success playing doubles, but she spent most of her time playing back, not at the net. Sterling is trying to change that, encouraging her to play the net more often.

"We call her 'Net Ninja' because of how fast she can whip her racket around at the net. When we started last year, she was not the 'Net Ninja.' By the end of the year, she was," Sterling said.

Zador won some tough matches last year.

"She's a good competitor and is working on being even more mentally tough," said Sterling. "She has a good all-around game. There's really nothing she can't do."

In a match against the crosstown rival University of Portland, Zador created her best highlight as a Viking so far.

"They were a stronger team than we were," Zador said of the match. "But it was nice to know I could cope with that and pull out a win (she defeated UP's Raphaelle Leblanc, 6-2, 6-2 at line 2). It really helped my confidence to know I could compete with a higher ranked person."

Between the fall and spring season's this year, Zador wants to focus on conditioning.
"I've wanted to shorten rallies because I was afraid I'd get too tired, so I want to be in better condition so I can get through longer matches," she said.

She also wants to continue improving her volleying, but overall she said she just wants to play better, despite her impressive record last season.

"This fall, things didn't work out the way I wanted. I didn't pull out as many wins as I wanted," said Zador. "I'm concentrating on getting mentally ready. Last year, I did a good job of preparing myself. Even though I may not have played as well as I wanted, I did win most of my matches."

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Players Mentioned

Eszter Zador: Junior; 1L

Players Mentioned

Eszter Zador
: Junior; 1L