Toronto men, Montreal women look to repeat as OUA tennis champs this weekend

BURLINGTON, Ont. – Banner season begins across Ontario University Athletics (OUA) this weekend when the Western Mustangs host the 2016 OUA Tennis Championships from Oct. 14-16.

Play begins at University Tennis Centre on the campus of Western University on Friday at 8:30 a.m. and will conclude with the bronze and gold medal matches on Sunday.

The host Western Mustangs men's team enters the championship not only with a home court advantage, but also the No. 1 seed in the tournament thanks to an undefeated regular season where they went 6-0 in league play.  After seeing their three year reign in OUA tennis come to an end last season at the hands of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, the Mustangs appear poised to hoist the C.L.T.A. Cup, presented by the Canadian Lawn Tennis Association, for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

However, if Western thinks that the aforementioned defending champions, the No. 2 seed Varsity Blues, will relinquish the title that easily they need to think again. 

Despite the departure of 2015 Player of the Year Zain Manji, U of T went 5-2 during the regular season with their only losses coming to rival Mustangs and the McGill Redmen (who will not be competing at the upcoming OUA championship).  In a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Western last month, the double pair of Andrew Bourne-Kaponeridis (Toronto, Ont.) and Jeffrey Klotz (Caledon, Ont.) managed to steal a match from the Mustangs, while in singles action it was rookie Nathan Wong defeating his opponent 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

After a difficult regular season, things won't get any easier for No. 7 seed McMaster Marauders as they'll have the tough task of taking down the defending champion Varsity Blues in the opening round.  Toronto defeated McMaster 7-0 in the regular season with each match ending in straight sets victories for the Varsity Blues.   McMaster lost several key veterans to graduation following last season, however, the future is bright for the Marauders as rookie Marko Kacar (Toronto) and Jacob Siekierski (Kincardine, ON) are playing together as their top doubles pairing. 

The No. 3 ranked Carabins will take on the No. 6 seed Carleton Ravens in the opening round on Friday.  The Ravens finished the regular season with a pair of victories coming against Brock (4-3) and McMaster (5-2).

The Waterloo Warriors will make the trip to London, Ont. as the No. 4 seed for the OUA championship after a 4-2 regular season record.  After dropping their opening series of the season against the previously mentioned Blues, the Warriors, who are still looking for their first OUA title in program history, rattled off four straight victories before falling to the Mustangs in the regular season finale. 

One of those victories came against their first round opponent, the No. 5 seeded York Lions.  In a close 4-3 Warriors win, Waterloo and York split their singles matches with Noah Matsui (Toronto) and Saifullah Shoaib (Karachi, Pakistan) doubles victory giving them the points needed for the overall win.

It was a difficult season for the Lions men's team as they finished with a 1-5 regular season record with their only victory coming against the Ravens back in September.  In that win, playing out of the third spot, Tre Eli (Toronto) had a straight sets singles victory and along with doubles partner Dylan Shanmugadhasan (Scarborough, Ont.) defeated the Ravens pair 8-1. 

The Lions are led by Filip Obucina (Etobicoke, Ont.), who breezed through the competition during the regular season, posting an undefeated record.  The third-year administrative studies major will look to keep the streak alive and lead the Lions past the Warriors on Friday.  

Coming off an undefeated 6-0 regular season record, the 2014 OUA champion York Lions will enter the OUA championship looking to hoist the trophy for the seventh time in program history.  The Lions are once again led by second-year standout Nikki Carnovale (Woodbridge, Ont.) who was named Player of the Year a season ago and 2013 Rookie of the Year Eugenie Lim Ah Tock (Curepipe, Mauritius).  York dropped just four matches all season, with a pair of those coming against the 2015 champions and No. 2 seed Montreal Carabins. 

As on the men's side, the Carabins and No. 7 seeded Carleton Ravens will meet on Friday with the winner looking to advance.  Carleton picked up their only victory in their season opener against the Brock Badgers.

There would be no sweeter feeling for the No. 3 seed Western Mustangs than to win their first OUA championship since 2012 on their home hard court.  The host Mustangs split their regular season competitions, picking up victories against the Varsity Blues, Warriors and their first round opponents, the No. 6 seeded McMaster Marauders.  However, they'll likely need to find a way to solve the aforementioned Lions and Carabins if they hope to hoist the banner come Sunday.  Western lost 6-1 to York and 5-2 to Montreal during the regular season.

The Marauders will be in tough on Friday night, as they fell to the host Mustangs 7-0 earlier in the season at the University Tennis Centre.  However, McMaster's second seed Janna Malone (Ottawa, Ont.) went 3-1 in singles play this season with her only loss coming against their opening round opponents.  Top seed Mackenzie Kool (Ancaster, Ont.) will also take on her OUA championship oppenent from a season ago.

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues enter the championship playing out of the No. 4 seed thanks to a 2-3 regular season against OUA competition.  Toronto picked up a pair of impressive victories, including a 4-3 win versus the defending champion Carabins and a 6-1 victory to open the season against their opening round opponent, the No. 5 seeded Waterloo Warriors.  In the win over Waterloo, first-year standouts Cornelia Kulle (Vienna, Austria) and Alara Demirag (Istanbul, Turkey) stepped up as the only undefeated players in both singles and doubles action.

Following their season opener loss to Toronto, the Warriors rattled off three consecutive wins against McMaster, Carleton and Brock before falling to York and Western to finish the regular season with a 3-3 record.  Despite their loss to Toronto, the Warriors doubles pairs of Nathalie Skaf (San Jose, CR) and Colleen Fernandes (Mississauga, Ont.) and rookies Nancy Wu (Shanghai, China) and Daniela Castro (Quito, Ecuador) each registered 8-5 victories.  

The OUA Men's and Women's Tennis Championships will be a team format, with each match featuring six (6) singles players (plus alternate) and three (3) doubles teams. Players will be ranked from 1-6 in singles and 1-3 in doubles.

Each singles match will be a best two of three sets with no-ad scoring, with a 12 point tiebreaker to be played if the match is tied 6-6.  Doubles matches will be eight game pro sets with regular ad-scoring with a 12 point tiebreaker should the match be tied 7-7.  Doubles matches will be scheduled first, followed by singles matches. 

Team matches will be worth up to seven points, with the winner being the first team to achieve four points.

One (1) point will be awarded for the winner of doubles match (3-0 or 2-1), while each winner of a singles match will also earn one (1) point.  

Following the completion of the tournament, six (6) male and six (6) female all-stars will be recognized, along with the presentation of gold, silver and bronze medals.