The Mustangs men’s tennis team got off to a good start over the weekend.
The defending OUA champions beat McMaster 6-1 on Saturday and then edged out a 4-3 win over Waterloo on Sunday.
Doubles partners Andre Szilvassy and Vahagn Tonakanian got things started for Western with a big win over the Warriors, winning their match 8-1. Szilvassy says the win came down to their intensity level.
“We didn’t stop playing hard until the whole match was over,” Szilvassy says. “We fed off each other’s energy, and honestly, we were putting returns back in, hitting big serves, volleying well… they really couldn’t do anything well against us.”
Western enters the season as OUA favourites after winning the title the past two years. A win this year would be the team’s second three-peat in ten years, after the Mustangs accomplished the feat between 2002-2004.
Tonakanian says the team’s depth will play a big factor in their success.
“One through six, we’re so close together. You could rotate those positions around, because we’re just so deep,” says Tonakanian. “We’ve got a very good squad this year.”
Meanwhile, the women’s side had a solid opening weekend of their own. They beat both McMaster and Waterloo 7-0.
A GUIDE TO OUA TENNIS SCORING:
- teams play six singles matches and three doubles matches
- each singles match is worth one point, and all of the doubles matches combined are worth one point, for a total of seven possible points
- singles matches play best of three sets with regular scoring
- doubles matches play one pro set (first to 8 games, must win by two)
