2 Photos
Lauren Schiraldi, left, and Pamela Pillco were NJCAA Division III doubles champions.
Suffolk's women's tennis team included, from left, front row: Tiffany-Ann Dookharan, Lauren Schiraldi, Pamela Pillco. Back row, from left: Head coach Glenn Nathan, Ashley Dodenhoff, Kathleen Vereecke and Marielis Cuevas.
Pamela Pillco’s return to the tennis court was a successful one.
After graduating from East Hampton High School in 2018, Pillco, who was a successful tennis player for the Bonackers, took a full year off from school before attending Suffolk County Community College, where she tried out for and successfully made the women’s tennis team. After the 2020 season was eventually canceled due to the pandemic, Pillco returned to Suffolk this past season and helped lead the team to a second-place finish at the NJCAA Division III Championships, which were held October 29-31.
Pillco also earned the number two National Singles Championship and joined teammate Lauren Schiraldi of St. James to win the number one Doubles National Championship — college tennis players are allowed to play both singles and doubles. Suffolk tied its highest finish in school history with a second-place finish, but Pillco and Schiraldi’s individual and doubles titles are the first for any player in program history.
Oxford Emory won its sixth consecutive national title and seventh overall at the championships that were played in its home state, at the Peachtree City Tennis Center in Peachtree City, Georgia. Pillco was the only non-Oxford Emory Eagle to win a singles flight — Schiraldi finished as the runner-up in the No. 1 flight. The Sharks finished the tournament with 19 points as opposed to the Eagles’ 33.
“The goal was the championship, for me, personally,” Pillco, an Ecuadorian native, said. “I didn’t know what to expect, having not seen the other players before, but the goal was always to finish in first place in singles and doubles. It made me feel proud of myself that we did.”
Although their 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic, Suffolk was allowed to practice, which allowed head coach Glenn Nathan to see what kind of talent he had. While he knew what he was getting from Schiraldi, a Smithtown East High School graduate and 2020 Smithtown East Athlete of the Year, Pillco was basically an unknown.
“Right away, when we came back, I knew my one and two were going to be Lauren and Pamela,” said Nathan, a Suffolk men’s tennis champ and Suffolk grad himself. “They stood out and had all of the basics down and wanted to get better. As a coach, I look for basic tennis strokes and what we have to do to implement them and how well we can implement them to execute the game plan. I also look at, once you’re in the game plan, how well you can execute those strokes to be a winner.
“With all that said, Pamela had all of those qualities,” he added. “I knew we had a really competitive tennis player who was going to win.”
Pillco, who works at Buckskill Tennis Club, said she has been playing tennis since she was 5 years old and was taught by her father, Manuel Pillco, who is a tennis coach back in Ecuador. Having that background, Nathan said, certainly helped.
“The greatest part of that was that she was so easy to mold and work with,” he said. “She was slowly trying to implement everything and you could see she was thinking about things even when we got to Nationals.”
Pillco said she plans to spend one more year at Suffolk before transferring to either a school in New York City or possibly Stony Brook University.
“I knew that I had tennis players and not just people who can play tennis in Lauren and Pamela,” Nathan said. “And so when it became time for seeding, I tried to be as forthcoming about my players as I could and told the other coaches that my players needed to be seeded one or two. And I know there were probably other coaches who said, ‘From Suffolk? Really?’ And I realize we’re not Oxford Emory, we’re not going to take a one seed away from them, but the goal of any seeding meeting at any tournament at any level, you want the two best players to get to the final.
“The best compliment that I got for the ladies was when opposing coaches came up to me at the end of the tournament and said, ‘You were right. You got the best players in the finals, and that’s what we were looking for.’”
It hasn’t necessarily been an easy road for Nathan. The Farmingville native and Sachem High School graduate who turned 63 years old on Tuesday, explained that by the time he graduated Suffolk in 1980, his kidneys were failing and was on dialysis when he joined Adelphi University’s men’s tennis team. After three kidney transplants, Nathan has since had a successful run as a head coach, first at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue for 16 years, now again at Suffolk, which he joined in August 2019.
“I’ve had three kidney transplants and have not missed a beat,” he said. “I’ve taken four teams to the NCAAs at St. Josephs and a runner-up at Suffolk. You can have kidney transplants and be very successful.”
Suffolk County Community College President Dr. Edward Bonahue congratulated the team, individual champions and coach.
“Our student athletes teach us that you get out what you put in,” he said through the school’s press release, “and lessons learned on the court can transfer to the classroom and life. Clearly, the women’s team made a huge commitment of time and effort under extraordinary circumstances to bring home a winning season. Congratulations to our entire team, Lauren, Pamela and Coach Nathan.”
College Associate Dean of Athletics and Special Events Neftali Collazo lauded the team and the individual champions: “Despite facing obstacles throughout this season, our Women’s Tennis Team was able to accomplish a great deal. Their achievements both as a team and individually speak to their talent and dedication and I thank them. Congratulations!”
