Pre-season in Buffalo

Both teams travelled to Buffalo, New York for a 3-day warm-up tournament (Can-Am Invitiational) hosted by Niagara University on Friday, 26 September 2003. Other universities participating in the tournament were York, McMaster, Laurier, U of Montéal, Buffalo, and Youngstown State.

Play began as soon as the team arrived. Day 1 highlights included Armin Milani's heart-breaking 3 set loss to Niagara University. Milani had already played two matches and was cramping up. After losing the first set, he fought back to win the 2nd set after using an injury timeout but was unable to play through fatigue to pull off the comeback. Craig Mercer and Qiuyan Tian had little problems as they cruised through their first two matches and found themselves in the semi-finals in the main draw. The day ended around 12 midnight as the team dined at an Olive Garden nearby.

Day 2 of the tournament was completely rained out. However, members of both teams had a blast as they had a chance to bond off the courts. And many players got the rest they needed after a tiring Day 1.

Due to the rain on Saturday, there were still a lot of matches left to be played on Day 3. However, many of the teams left early because they had a long drive ahead of them. Both Mercer and Tian won their respective semi-final match. Mercer faced nother Torontonian, University at Buffalo's Mike Rockman in the Men's Singles A Draw Final. Mercer played very agressively but Rockman ran everything down. They were numerous hard hitting rallies. Mercer lost the match in two hard faught sets, 7-5, 6-4. The day concluded as Tian came up just a bit short in the Women's Singles B Draw Final against Michelle Kollarova, also of UB.

Visit the PHOTO_GALLERY for more pictures.

- CL | 28 Sep 2003, 23:59

Other News

Pre-season News (Summer 2004)

Ladies win OUA; Gents lose to Waterloo in 3rd Place match (13 Oct 2003, 19:00)

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)

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