Western men, York women win OUA Tennis Championships

LONDON, Ont. – After three days of competition the Western Mustangs men and York Lions women emerged as the OUA Men's and Women's Tennis Champions on Sunday afternoon at the Western University Tennis Centre.

It was the third straight year, and 18th time overall, that the Mustangs hoisted the men's trophy, while it was the sixth time in school history that the Lions were crowned women's champions.

"It's our third year in a row this year, and it's definitely more special to win at home," said Mustangs co-coach Cameron Cross. "The first time we had a chance when I've been coaching we came up half a point short so at home. It certainly feels great to win at home."

"It's a great feeling," said Lions coach Chris Field. "The girls worked very hard for this championship. It was a great pleasure."

The Mustangs clinched the title midway through Sunday's championship matches, finishing the tournament with 15.5 points.

Western won three singles flights on Sunday, winning the fourth flight as Vahagn Tonakanian defeated Toronto's Cameron Chiang 6-3, 6-7, 6-0, Alex Low defeated Montreal's Demian Aquino 7-5, 7-6 in the fifth flight, and Kurtis Aleksandre defeated Montreal's Sébastien Hirt 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 to take the sixth flight. Western also claimed two of the three doubles flights as Peter Askew and Sasha Leznoff defeated Toronto's Nick Somody and Andrew Bourne Kaponeridis 8-6 to win the second flight, while their teammates Matthew Jaekel and Maximillian Besworth topped Montreal's Aquino and Hirt 8-2 to win the third flight.

The Waterloo Warriors and Montreal Carabins tied for second place with 12 points, however the Warriors earned the silver medals due to winning more head-to-head matches between the two teams.

Waterloo's Vincent Chan won the top flight singles title, defeating Montreal's Colomban Bounine 6-2, 6-3 to win the gold. The Warriors also won the third singles flight as John Chan defeated Montreal's Andrew Beljaars 6-4, 6-2. Vincent and John Chan also claimed Waterloo's third win of the day, taking the top men's doubles flight 8-6 over Toronto's Ivan Markovic and Cameron Chiang.

Markovic was the lone men's player not representing Western or Waterloo to take the top spot in his flight, defeating the Mustangs Andre Szilvassy 6-4, 6-3 in the second flight finals.

York cruised to the title on Sunday winning three of the six singles flights and one doubles flight to finish the championship with 17 points.

Valerie Ushanova took first place in the top singles flight, defeating Toronto's Steffi Wong 6-5, 6-4 to earn the gold medal. Eugenie Lim Ah Tock won the third flight with a 6-2, 6-1 win over the Varsity Blues Antonina Gorshenina. Sonia Glushkovsky recorded the Lions' third singles win of the day, defeating Montreal's Lauriane Roussel 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the sixth flight. Along with their wins in singles competition, Tock and Glushkovsky combined to win the third doubles flight, topping the Carabins' Roussel and Anaïs Boa 8-1.

Montreal claimed silver with 13 points, winning the fourth and fifth singles flight, along with the second doubles flight. Clémentine Michallon won the fourth flight with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 win over York's Kelsi Smith, while Boa defeated Smith's Lions teammate Shivanie Skandarajah 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to win the fifth flight. Rounding out the Carabins victors for the day was the duo of Cholé Lafaix and Clementine Michallon, who defeated Western's Melissa Lee and Michelle Stanescu 8-5 to win the second flight.

The Varsity Blues took third place overall with 11.5 points, and also won the top doubles flight as Steffi Wong and Jennifer Cape won a hard-fought 8-7 contest over York's Ushanova and Julia Kedrzycki.

Rounding out the winners from Sunday was Western's Susan Huang, who won the second singles flight 6-4, 6-3 over Toronto's Jennifer Cape to help the Mustangs finish in fourth place with 10 points.

Final Women's Standings

1. York – 17 points

2. Montreal – 13

3. Toronto – 11.5

4. Western – 10

5. Carleton – 1

6. UOIT – 0

6. Waterloo – 0

6. McMaster – 0

Women's All-Stars (automatic winners based on championship results)

Valerie Ushanova – York

Steffi Wong – Toronto

Susan Huang – Western

Women's Rookie of the Year

Eugenie Lim Ah Tock – York

Women's Coach of the Year

Pat Craton – Waterloo

Final Men's Standings

1. Western – 15.5 points

2. Waterloo – 12*

3. Montreal – 12

4. Toronto – 9.5

5. McMaster – 2

6. Carleton – 1

7. York – 0.5

8. UOIT – 0

*Waterloo takes second place due to winning more head-to-head matches over Montreal

Men's All-Stars (automatic winners based on championship results)

Vincent Chan – Waterloo

Colomban Bounine – Montreal

Ivan Markovic – Toronto

Men's Rookie of the Year

Joe Zeng – Waterloo

Men's Coach of the Year

Pat Craton – Waterloo

OUA Tennis Championship Final Bracket (PDF)

Source: Western Mustangs