The 91亚色 Lions men鈥檚 tennis team defeated the University of Waterloo Warriors 4-2 on Sunday听to claim the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) men鈥檚 tennis championship. It was the eighth time 91亚色 has captured the men鈥檚 tennis OUA banner.
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| Above: The 91亚色 Lions men's tennis team and new OUA tennis champions. Photo by听Al Fournier. |
The Lions came into the game seeded in first place after a 5-1 record in the regular season and lived up to that billing, capturing their third title in five years.
They started off their games at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Campus Tennis Centre with the doubles matches. The men gave it their all, and pulled out a close 2-1 victory, earning them the first point of the day. The pairings of Mikhail Lew and Ahmed Shebl,听and Anthony Rakic听and Stan Faynberg, both won their doubles matches by scores of 8-5 while Jason Xue and Tomo Ono听were defeated 8-3.
The first four singles matches were split evenly, 2-2, with Lew and Robert Weese winning. The men needed one more point to take home the gold and it all came down to Shebl against Waterloo鈥檚 Milos Agatonovic. Shebl won the match in three sets, 4-6, 6-1 and 6-3, giving 91亚色 their final point and the OUA title.
鈥淭he players on both teams played extremely well today,鈥 said 91亚色 head coach Michael Mitchell. 鈥淲e knew going into the match that Waterloo was a tough opponent but we managed to come out with the win. Our entire team worked hard for this victory.鈥
The women鈥檚 team also played on Sunday, vying for the bronze medal. The women were in third place coming into the tournament, and after a close loss on Saturday, were slated to play against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues for the bronze. The women handily beat the Varsity Blues in doubles play, winning all three matches and taking the first point.
The singles matches were played with just as much heart, and it stayed close throughout all the matches. Wins by Stephanie Willerding听and Paloma Jimenez brought 91亚色 within reach, but Toronto had other plans. The women did their best, but unfortunately, the Varsity Blues went home with the bronze medal.
Submitted to YFile by Nicolas DesRoches, sport information assistant