The UBC TSC Women’s Tennis Team flew over to Edmonton this past weekend for the Western Canadian Championships, competing against the University of Alberta Pandas for a spot at the National Championships. The Thunderbirds fought hard but came up short, falling 2-5 to the defending National Champions.
After a full day of practice on Saturday to get acclimatized to the Edmonton court elevation, the Thunderbirds stepped onto the match courts on Sunday morning ready to battle. In doubles, No. 1 team Madi Fan and Jessica Silva came out guns blazing, defeating Katie Johnson and Samantha Chapman 8-4. However, the Thunderbirds dropped the doubles point overall, as No. 2 Michelle Lim and Izzy Evans dropped their match 2-8 to Tereza Simona and Alina Jurca, while No. 3 Abigail Heninger and Sara Zupanc dropped 3-8 to Jessica Kreutz and Riyo Tomita.
No. 5 Izzy Evans grinding it out in her singles match.
In singles, the high pressure battle continued. Fan took the first point for UBC at the No. 2 singles position, steamrolling over Johnson 6-1,6-0. On court No. 1 Silva fought hard but couldn’t repeat her early season victory to Simona, dropping her match 4-6, 2-6. On Court No. 3 and No. 4 Zupanc and Lim also came up short, losing their matches 1-6,0-6 and 0-6,2-6 to Kreutz and Chapman, respectively. Meanwhile, on court No. 6 Heninger took care of business, taking her singles match 6-3,6-1 to Tomita earning the second point for the Thunderbirds. To finish off, in her debut competitive singles match on the team, No. 5 Evans battled back from behind to force a tiebreaker in the second set, but fell short 4-6, 6-7(4) to Jurca. Overall, the 2-5 finish was an improvement from the 1-6 defeat in the fall meeting, but ultimately not enough to earn the Thunderbirds a spot at the National Championships for the season.
No. 1 Jessica Silva in her singles match.
This match marks the end of the 2019-20 competitive season for the team, concluding with a 4-3 record. However, the future looks bright for seasons to come for the young thunderbirds, as the lineup consists of three rookies and two sophomores in the top eight. The Thunderbirds will continue to train hard on and off court over the summer to be ready for the 2020-21 season.