Ladies win OUA Silver
Gents lose to Waterloo in 3rd Place match

Qiuyan Tian ("Chewy" for those who can’t pronounce Qiuyan) came through once again in Friday’s singles play against McGill to propel the Varsity Blues Women’s Team into the OUA Gold Medal Match on Saturday for the fourth time in five years.

Laura Ozolins played a solid match at number one and was victorious. Mary Hall played a girl who grunts much louder than Monica Seles and won with ease. Doubles wins came from the pair of Ozolins and Hall and "Chewy" and team captain Karina Avramenko. Mary Martchouk and Kristina Dundas lost a tough doubles match. Martchouk and Ekaterina Alchits both won their shortened singles matches following "Chewy's" clinching win. Teresa Schirripa and Rosie Bell, who did not play, are true team players as they sacrificed part of their long weekend to provide their teammates with a great deal of support in all the matches. The ladies and gents gathered to dine at Jack Astors to celebrate a great start for the team on Friday (as picture above, top right).

The Blues battled hard on Saturday afternoon in the OUA Finals. However, the defending champion York Lions, like they did in the regular season a week ago, demonstrated why they are still the number one team in Ontario. The ladies dug themselves a deep hole by losing the doubles point. Ozolins lost a close match to York’s number one player Natasha Kimberg. Avramenko had perhaps the best chance as she took the first set of her match. Hall lost to a very tough opponent. Alchits played well but was unable to win many deuce points as she lost in straight sets. The score was 4:0 for York at this point. Avramenko allowed her opponent to come back to win the last two sets of the match. "Chewy" did not finish her match. The match between Martchouk and Helen Wong of York consisted of long, hard baseline rallies and was a treat to watch. They were tied one set apiece when play was halted. In earlier action, Bell lost a deuce points-filled exhibition match.

The ladies should be extremely proud of their accomplishments. With most players returning next year, the U of T Varsity Blues Women’s Team will once again look to dethrone the York Lions.

A week ago, the gents were hoping for the ladies to beat Waterloo so that both teams would travel to London. They never thought that the ladies would outperform them. Semifinal play began at 15:00 after the ladies were awarded their silver medals. The Blues faced the Brock Badgers. It appeared that the gents had looked ahead to the finals and lost focus. The doubles point came down to the pair of Brian Wells and captain Mark Renneson as the pair of Craig Mercer and Andrew Anderson won at number one, while the pair of Max Kaznadiy and Brent Williams lost at number three. Wells was unable to hold his serve at 6-6 and the Badgers went on to take the match 8-6. One can see the disappointment of assistant coach Reuben Chen, Anderson and Alchits (as pictured on the right) as the Blues lost the crucial doubles point.

Mercer said afterwards that he played poorly in his singles match. He lost in straight sets. Ben Eisen played a tremendous match and walked all over his opponent 6-1, 6-1 at number six. Wells lost at number four. Shortly after, Williams lost a hard-fought three setter at number five to send the Badgers into the OUA Final against the Western Mustangs. Renneson and Anderson were both going to a third set but did not finish as Brock had already won the four points they needed.

All the ladies stayed behind to support the gents on Saturday. However, five of them had to return to Toronto after the Brock match as the tournament was poorly scheduled on a Thanksgiving weekend. The remaining four ladies and the gents went out to T.J. Baxters (as pictured on the left) to celebrate the ladies' OUA silver.

That was just the beginning of a much needed fun Saturday night in one of the most "happening" cities in Ontario. Members of both teams and some of Wells' high school buddies (Ben, Andrew and Nisha) from London gathered for some beverages in Mercer's room. That was followed by good times at 276 Lounge (where Val, Kristina's friend, works) and The Barking Frog (at least that's what I think it's called). Avramenko, Dundas, Anderson, Wells and his buddies danced like crazy. While Mercer, Renneson and Hall did not quite go all out with the dancing, Alchits fired it up and took over the dance floor with her moves. The night ended back at Mercer's room where the guys made fun of themselves for choking against the Badgers. While Renneson received a long awaited phone call from a special someone at 03:00, more beverages were consumed.

With few hours of sleep, the gents started slow on Sunday morning against the Waterloo Warriors. Again, they dropped the crucial doubles points against three very evenly mixed-up doubles teams. Mercer won his match with ease against a relatively weak number one player from Waterloo. Wells looked a bit shaky at number four and lost. Renneson also lost in straight sets. Despite having minor trouble closing out the first set, Eisen came through once again in straight sets at number six. He is certainly the MVP for the gents this weekend. Unfortunately, prior to Eisen’s win, Williams had dropped the third and deciding set to give the Warriors the OUA bronze. Williams lost the first set but came back strong in the second. Throughout the match, he was bothered by many close calls made by his trash-talking Waterloo opponent. An umpire was requested late in the third but Williams could not hang on. Anderson needed three sets to win against his weaker lefty opponent. The final score was 4:3 for Waterloo.

Hall, Renneson and Mercer will likely not be back next year. On behalf of the rest of the team, I would like to wish them the best of luck in all their future endeavours.

Visit the PHOTO_GALLERY for more pictures.

- CL | 13 Oct 2003, 19:00 (Edited on 16 Oct 2003, 23:00)

Other News

Pre-season News (Summer 2004)

Ladies Western bound After Win Over Waterloo (05 Oct 2003, 16:00)

Men's Team Clinches Top Spot in their Division (03 Oct 2003, 23:59)

Pre-season in Buffalo (28 Sep 2003, 23:59)

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