SCC’s Johansson Has Seen Tennis From Both Sides Now

As the No. 1 singles player on the Southern California College men’s tennis team last season, Mattias Johansson didn’t pay much attention to the tennis being played lower in the lineup.

Now as the Vanguards’ head coach, he doesn’t have that luxury, and he is discovering that his expectations might be a bit too high. Not every player is outstanding.

“That’s been the hard part for me,” Johansson said. “I need to learn that, I guess.”

Johansson’s education in coaching has been on the fly, learning on the job he took in September. The former coach, Matt Scott, accepted a graduate assistant position at Boise State in August, making it necessary for SCC to hire its third coach in three seasons.

Johansson, who finished his eligibility last spring, was finishing his degree at SCC. “I just happened to be around,” he said.

Johansson inherited a program that has won or shared the last two Golden State Athletic Conference titles and advanced to the NAIA national tournament both years.

The Vanguards finished 11th in the NAIA last season, but Johansson is missing three significant players from that team, including himself. David Robbins, the No. 2 singles player, and No. 3 Ryan Lewis both left school. And because of Johansson’s late start as coach, he wasn’t able to do any recruiting of replacements.

Even so, the Vanguards started the season strong, winning their first six matches. But eventually the team’s lack of depth was exposed and it lost five of its next six. Because of injuries, illness and a suspension, SCC played eight matches with five players, forcing the Vanguards to default one singles and one doubles match in each match.

“Now, a couple players have lost a lot of self-confidence,” Johansson said. “We have to work on that.”

Perhaps the healing process started against conference foe Point Loma Nazarene Saturday, when senior Matt O’Sullivan returned from a three-match suspension. Johansson had suspended O’Sullivan for an on-court behavior problem, and he and the team were glad to have him back. SCC won, 6-1; all the Vanguard winners did so in straight sets.

SCC’s top two players are newcomers. Nan Ma, the No. 1 singles player, is a redshirt freshman from Beijing, and No. 2 Brian Matek is a transfer from Saddleback College.

Nos. 3 and 5, Paulo Barriga and Jeff Baker, played for the Vanguards last year. O’Sullivan is No. 4 and No. 6 Hayden Kemp is a freshman from Sydney, Australia.

Johansson believes the Vanguards (9-6, 4-3 in GSAC play) should be able to cruise through two of their final three conference matches. He hopes that in the other, against Azusa Pacific, the Vanguards can avenge a 4-3 loss in which they had only five players.

In May, SCC will play in the NAIA Far West Regionals and try to earn another trip to the national tournament.