University of North Carolina Athletics
Scandinavian Seniors
April 9, 2015 | Men's Tennis, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
By Turner Walston
It's been an interesting four years for Øystein Steiro and Esben Hess-Olesen, but the two Scandinavian Tar Heels will celebrate their Senior Day on Thursday when the Carolina hosts Duke.
“It feels very weird,” Steiro said last weekend. “I still remember the first day coming here, and it doesn't feel like four years ago. It's been pretty crazy.”
“I remember the first thing poeple told me when I came in is that every year is going to go by quicker,” said Hess-Olesen. “I said no way, but freshman year went by so fast, and it actually goes by quicker.”
A native of Norway, Steiro heard good things about Carolina from former Tar Heel Nick Monroe. Associate head coach Tripp Phillips saw him play in Norway and later visited Chapel Hill. Hess-Olesen, from Denmark, sought out college tennis opportunities with his twin brother Søren (2014 Big 12 Player of the Year at the University of Texas). “No one would really see me unless they went to Denmark, so I had to explain myself and point out some results,” Hess-Olesen said. “North Carolina was quick at getting back to me, and I obviously felt a good connection here.”
Steiro and Hess-Olesen's Carolina careers have coincided with a rise in national prominence for the Tar Heel men's tennis team. Carolina reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2012 and the quarterfinals in 2014. “When I was a freshman, we came in here with five seniors, a really strong team and a lot of good players,” Steiro said. “We had a little down year my sophomore year, but then we got some really good freshmen recruits. If everyone is playing and we have no injuries, we're a really good team.”
Injuries have plagued Hess-Olesen, but he and Steiro are now setting the tone as doubles partners. In their freshman and sophomore seasons, Hess-Olsen and Steiro occasionally teamed, compiling a 3-5 record. In the summer of 2013, the two won an ITF Futures Tournament in Denmark. This season, Hess-Olesen and Steiro are 7-2. “It helps that we were roommates freshman year, and we come from the same culture,” Hess-Olesen said. “There's definitely some chemistry here, and that means more than anything in doubles.”
Before they could take the court, however, they had to decide on a common language. “The first thing he asked me when I came was if we were going to speak Norwegian and Danish or English,” Steiro said. “We tried Norwegian and Danish, but I have a hard time understanding him; he has a weird accent,” he said, laughing. “So we stuck with English.”
Whatever works. Friday, the two took care of Boston College's Kyle Childree and Hank Workman, 8-2. Two days later, the 27th-ranked Tar Heel team stared down Notre Dame's 9th-ranked Alex Lawson and Billy Pecor, finishing 6-6 (Carolina won the doubles point on the other two courts).
To watch them is to see two players remarkably familiar with one another's games, trusting each other and appearing to have a sixth sense of their spatial relationship on the court. “We know exactly where we are on the court,” Steiro said. “If I'm in front, I know where he's at. It's good chemistry.”
Steiro boasts a devastating serve, the ball rocketing from his 6'6 frame into the service court. Hess-Olesen has a knack for working shot to shot, steering a rally toward his forehand for a finish. “We understand the tennis culture we've been a part of, and I think the most important thing is we make each other relaxed,” Hess-Olesen said. “We are both the type of players that if we're relaxed, we play better. College tennis is very different. There's a lot of pressure compared to home, and I know especially Øystein always talks about, 'I don't like all this pressure. I want to be relaxed,' and I think I make him relaxed.”
College tennis is that unique blend of individual and team sports, with one or two players competing on one team against one or two players on another, each trying to win a point for their teams. “It's an individual sport, and when you first come, not being aware of that college atmosphere and you come here as a foreign student or tennis player, you have to adapt a little bit to the whole team thing, but once you do that, it's great,” Steiro said. “You're playing for your team, you're playing for your coach, and at the same time you're playing for yourself as well, but it's great. It's a cool thing.”
It's a cool thing indeed to see a Dane and a Norwegian representing the University of North Carolina on the tennis court. “The longer you stay, the quicker it goes by, I feel like,” Hess-Olesen said of his career. “I can't believe I'll be done in a month.”
“It means a lot,” Steiro said of being a Tar Heel. “When I go back home, I'm still going to wear [the 'NC'] with pride, and people are going to look at me and know UNC. It's a great feeling.”
