On Saturday January 26th, as part of UBC Tennis’ outreach programs, both the Women’s and Men’s Tennis Teams invited out top BC juniors to form a Tennis BC team, for the annual UBC vs TBC competitive exhibition match. Highlights of the night not only included some great tennis, but also included an info session on University Tennis at UBC, and time for the BC junior players to get to know the UBC Men’s and Women’s players off court. Overall, the Tennis BC juniors took the matches this year, with a 4-3 win over the UBC Women, and a 5-2 win against the UBC Men.
In the women’s match, the No.1 and No.3 Thunderbird doubles teams, grabbed the very first point of the match. However, the BC Juniors retaliated in singles, with Alessia Cau winning the No.1 singles point against UBC’s Jessica Silva. Isabella Asenov won the No.3 point against Abi Heninger, and Lucia Kristof won the No.6 singles point against Jacy Chan. The Thunderbirds refocused and fought back with a tough 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 win by No.2 Madi Fan against Vanessa Kahkesh, and a gruelling 3 set win by No.4 Michelle Lim against Brooke Andrews. The Tennis BC Juniors took the overall victory with Brianne Jim taking the final win against No. 5 Nina Erdevicki.
On the men’s side of the competition, the UBC Men started off with a loss of the doubles point, as the BC Juniors won 2 of the 3 doubles matches. In singles, Alex Kim, playing at No.1 for the Thunderbirds, fought off Aram Noroozian with a difficult 2-6, 6-3, 10-7 win. At No.2 Kristian Kiland lost to Graeme McIntosh. Junior, Keita Duclos, grabbed the No.3 singles point against Dickson Zhuang, and the No.4 point was also cinched by the Tennis BC junior, Aron Pilbart, with a 7-6, 6-3 win against Martin Lorayes. UBC’s No.5 Gregory Kuntjoro fought in a tough battle and came up on top against Henry Ren with a 2-6 6-3 10-6 win. At No.6 Stefan Lazarevic had a tough 6-4, 6-4 loss against junior Benjamin Dee.
Next in store for the UBC Women’s Tennis Team is a trip to Portland for the February 1st weekend to play against both Lewis and Clark and Whitman Universities. The Men’s Team will stay home to compete in the Men’s BC Regionals against UVIC and SFU on February 2nd and February 9th respectively.
The Women’s Team poses with the Tennis BC Junior Girls.