VERMILLION, S.D. – This wasn't the way it was supposed to end.
 
Nanette Nylund, the lone senior on the South Dakota women's tennis team, saw her collegiate career come to a sudden and abrupt end following the cancelation of the remainder of the spring sports season due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
 
Nylund and her Coyote teammates saw the final seven duals of the season, the Summit League Championships and NCAA Tournament canceled as all colleges across the United States deal with uncertain times.
 
The native of Tuusula, Finland, explained the emotion of hearing the news.
 
"Disappointment and sadness with not being able to have the ending any collegiate athletic career deserves with conference play and senior day," Nylund said. "Fear of the unknown and uncertainty, which probably many people are feeling right now. All of a sudden everything ends and we should adapt to this new scary situation.
 
"However, this is a great learning opportunity that not everything goes as planned. Despite all these feelings, I am already reflecting on all the good times and the amazing journey I have had being part of the South Dakota tennis team and I will cherish those memories for the rest of my life."
 
Nylund was a four-year mainstay in the Coyote lineup, earning All-Summit League honors as a freshman.


 
"Being a Coyote means so much to me," she said. "It is pride, wearing the USD gear and performing not just for myself and for my team but for the whole university. It is teamwork, countless hours of practice with my team working together, battling together and winning together.
 
"For me, it is not just about tennis, it is also about academics and being a Coyote has offered me the possibility to excel in both. The support to my athletic and academic career throughout my four years here has been amazing and I hope one day I can give back to the Coyote community."
 
Nylund helped the Coyotes reach the Summit League Tournament Championship match as a freshman and sophomore. Coach Brett Barnett was able to utilize Nylund at any spot, one through six, in the lineup throughout her four years on campus.
 
"Nettie had a great career for us and it is really too bad it was cut short this year," Barnett said. "One of the biggest things I'll always remember about her is she did whatever it took to help the team out.  There are a lot of players around the country that have an ego and need to play high in the lineup or they won't be happy and that definitely wasn't the case here."
 
Nylund had her best individual season as a junior, fashioning a 17-8 record while playing in the four, five or six spot in the lineup. She finished her career with 49 singles wins while adding 42 doubles victories.
 
"I knew I could count on her to play wherever we needed her to play to help the team out," Barnett said. "She was so dependable at the bottom of the lineup and rose to the challenge of playing much higher the last two years when we've been hit so hard by injuries."
 
Nylund, a nursing major, had to balance the high demands of her academic studies, while also practicing and competing at a high level as a Division I athlete.
 
"One of the most impressive things about her is how she balanced being a nursing major, especially the last two years," added Barnett. "I don't think a lot of people know and understand how little tennis she played leading up to matches. We could have five days of practice and she might have been able to come to two and then only stay for an hour! A lot of the time she's playing 2-3 hours a week instead of the typical 8-10 hours and then stepping out on the court for big matches and she would come through for us."
 
Nylund has a first-hand experience as a nursing major towards the on-going national fight against COVID-19.
 
"I have noticed that people have different attitudes towards this whole situation, we have people who are panicking and then on the other end of spectrum we have people who are ignoring this situation," Nylund said. "I think both are due to lack of knowledge or due to misleading information that spreads through internet.
 
"As I reflect on my major, I think this is a critical time to educate people on the severity of the situation yet guiding them to remain calm and encouraging people to take care of the vulnerable population. This is the time when we need teamwork from everyone so that we can maximize our chances to overcome this."