This weekend 8 of our juniors (plus Graeme and Craig) from the Southwestern Ontario region headed up to Ottawa to participate in the Ontario Junior Provincial Championships.
GU13- Aparna Maheshwari BU13- Vishaal Mehta
GU15- Mackenzie Elliott BU15- Riley Bore
GU17- Hope Hengsberger BU17- Berto Mill
GU19- Hannah Guthrie BU19- David Mill
For much of our team, this was their first time competing in a team tournament. After a long day of travel on Friday, we hopped right off the train and onto the courts. The first part of the tournament consists of round robin play. We were in Pool B against Niagara, Eastern Ontario and Ottawa. Unfortunately, our first round was against Niagara, always one of the strongest teams. We got off to a great start with Aparna winning the first match. However, we didn't get another win until David Mill and ended up losing 6-2.
Now that first round nerves were out of the way, we played Eastern Ontario. In this round we played very well with Vishaal, Aparna, Mackenzie, Riley, Berto and David all pulling out victories. Vishaal had a great comeback after going down 2-0 to his opponent. Vishaal played steady, mistake free squash to win it in 5. Mackenzie played possibly her best tournament match ever, winning 3-0. Southwest 6-2.
We had to beat our next round opponent (Ottawa) to advance to the main round. While all the matches were very close, we couldn't seem to pull out the close games nor the game fives when we needed. We ended up losing 6-2 and headed off to the consolation round.
Our first opponent was Eastern Ontario again. We didn't have the same kind of success as the first time we played them. However, we pulled out a 5-3 win to end Saturday and leave us with a showdown with Western Ontario for 5th place.
With so many players (and coaches) in Ottawa for the first time, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out and experience an Ottawa winter night. Our team joined the other teams and all the players went skating on the Rideau Canal. After 2 hours of skating we then visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Parliament Hill.
Sunday morning saw many tired players, coaches and parent chaperones at the breakfast table. Our opponent for 5th place was Western Ontario (Barrie). While we played very well, we lost a couple of close ones and Western defeated us 5-3.
Our players represented us in a very positive manner. They showed exemplary behaviour on and off the court. Many spectators commented on their ability and their positiveness (I know, not a word) on the court.
Aparna played great and was in many tight matches and provided us with much needed wins. Mackenzie is quickly gaining experience in the provincial scene and her game improved as the weekend went on. She also had her first win in a provincial tournament. Hope is a newcomer to the squash scene but is getting better very quickly. Not only was this her first tournament but only her second match ever. She played every opponent tough and never gave up. Hannah played out of her age division in the U19. Due to the lack of female players we had to make strategic decision as to who was playing where. Hannah was in every game and held her own in each match however, sheer age difference was too much to overcome.
Vishaal played some great matches, coming back from a 2-0 deficit and provided the team with some much needed wins. Riley is the one non-Windsor resident (Sarnia). Riley played great and his steady demeanour on court was amazing to watch. Berto was his usual entertaining self. Berto literally left his blood and sweat on each court he played and those that watched couldn't help but be inspired by his effort. David (our team captain) won all his matches and more importantly was there to support and help the rest of the team in their matches.
The team would like to thank John Zuliani, Teresa Ashworth, the Gary Waite Tour, and Squash Ontario for their sponsorship. We couldn't have done it without you. Below is a link to the pictures of the trip.
Pictures of 2015 Provincial Championships
And what would a tournament be without the classic Phil Dimitrov vs. Luca Dalla Bona match. Dimitrov has been dominating this matchup of late but Dalla Bona proved to be too much tonight with an impressive 3-0 win.
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