Banner Season: Blues are Golden at 2025 OUA Tennis Championships
Markham, Ont. (via York Lions) - A tremendous weekend of tennis finished off on Thansgiving Sunday at the 2025 OUA Tennis Championships at Mayfair Clubs – East as the Toronto Varsity Blues looked to come home with the double gold medal.
The main courses brought together the Blues and the Queen's Gaels, who shocked everyone after entering the tournamnt as the No. 7 seed, in the women's final, while the U of T men's team took on the Ottawa Gee-Gees, who surprised some people in their own right after being the No. 5 seed in the quarters.
Toronto, looking for its 41st women's gold medal – the most of any program – came out swinging – literally – against the Gaels. They won the doubles point by sweeping all three matches, 8-4, 8-0 and 8-2. They then took five of six singles fixtures to take the match 5-1 and win their third consecutive gold and fifth in the last six tournaments.
The Blues then completed their second banner sweep in the last three years over the Gee-Gees in the men's final, but not without some intrigue. Ottawa drew first blood in the match by sweeping the doubles portion of play, winning the matches 8-5, 8-4 and 8-1, sending an early statement to the Blues. However, the perennial powerhouse Varsity Blues did not back down. They took four of six singles matches, powered by Lucas Mock, Ben Whitley, Alex Zhang and Luca Kirigin – all in straight sets, to take the match 4-3 and won their 33rd men's gold medal.
While the finals were certainly worth the wait, the day began with the appitizers – the men's and women's bronze medal matches. The women's bronze medal bout saw the host York Lions take on the Western Mustangs. Western took two of the three doubles matches, with Chantal Stepanova and Sierra Ausman defeating Mia Soccio and Selene Woo 8-3, before Lillian Pappas and Mihika Saraswathi downed Katia Tverdovskaia and Nina Lazarevic 8-5 to give the Mustangs the doubles point. They then went on to win four of the six singles contests, which featured three three-set marathons, as Western took the match 5-2 to bring home the Bronze.
As the women were wrapping up singles play, the men's bronze medal doubles got underway, with the men's Mustangs battling the Queen's Gaels. This match featured plenty of drama, with the Gaels sweeping doubles play, but with two of the matches going the distance before Queen's prevailed 8-7. That doubles point would loom large for as the two teams each took three singles matches, with the Gaels winning all three in three sets, victories by Dermott Duggan, Jason Nybo and Ben Hilderman to capture the bronze medal.
Awards Winners (Women):
Player of the Year:
Anastaysia Dyadchenko – Toronto
Rookie of the Year:
Katherine Zhang – Toronto
Coach of the Year:
Nabil Tadros – Toronto
All Stars:
Anastaysia Dyadchenko – Toronto
Veronika Podobed – Toronto
Nawal Youssef – Queen's
Amy Mucea – Queen's
Chantal Stepanova - Western
Mia Soccio - York
Awards Winners (Men):
Player of the Year:
Liam Drover-Mattinen – Western
Rookie of the Year:
Lucas Mock – Toronto
Coach of the Year:
Zhenya Kondratovski – Ottawa
All Stars:
Rassam Yazdi – Toronto
Lucas Mock – Toronto
Vlad Pirusca – Ottawa
Alex Lungu – Ottawa
Dermott Duggan - Queen's
Liam Drover-Mattinen - Western