Team NB had it’s best ever performance at a Canada Games this past week in Winnipeg finishing in 5th overall in the tennis competition. The team event involved playing a series of 6 matches; 2 boys singles, 2 girls singles, 1 boys doubles and 1 girls doubles. The first province to win 4 matches, wins the tie. If teams were tied at 3-all, then the tiebreaker match would have been a mixed doubles match-up. Our first round match was against Newfoundland & Labrador where we started strong winning by a score of 5-1 in the round of 16. In the quarter final match, we faced the tough team from Alberta and despite some very close matches, we lost 6-0. This relegated the team to the 5th-8th playoff quarter final where they faced the Northwest Territories who only had one player representing them. We won this match and took the tie 6-0. Next up was the semi final match against Saskatchewan. NB was up 3-1 after singles play and then a win by the boys doubles team made the difference and Team NB advanced to the next round. So the stage was set for the final match for 5th place and the opponent was cross border rivals and our friends from Nova Scotia. The team came out strong and won the first 4 singles matches, taking the match by a final score of 4-2 and the 5th place finish overall. To put this into perspective, this is 2 spots higher than our best ever performance at a Canada Games (7th place finishes in 1977 & 2005) and 3 spots higher than at the last Canada Games in 2013 where we finished in 8th.
In the individual event competition, Hielke Moore advanced to the quarter final in boys singles with a win over his Saskatchewan opponent but lost a heart breaker match against the #1 seed from Quebec in the quarters losing 6/4, 6/7, 4/6 and finished tied for 5th. Maya Lal also advanced in girls singles with a first round win over her opponent from Saskatchewan but then lost a close one to the #2 seed from Ontario by scores of 5/7, 3/6 and finished tied for 5th. The boys doubles team had a bye to the quarter finals where they fell to a tough Ontario team 0/6, 2/6 and a tied for 5th finish. The girls doubles team lost in the round of 16 to the team from Newfoundland & Labrador by scores of 0/6,1/6 and finished tied for 9th.
A huge thank you and congratulations to our team staff; Rufus Nel (Coach) & Monique LeClair (Manager) for all their hard work preparing for the Games and their efforts in Winnipeg. And thank you to all the players and their parents for their commitment to the team. Tennis NB and the province are very proud of your accomplishment.
Here is a great photo of the team: (from left to right) Louis Fortin (Sport Liason), Monique LeClair (Manager), Maya Lal, Niki Karol, Caroline Asimakos, Sophie Cameron-Howe, Rufus Nel (Coach), Hielke Moore, Mitchell Nel, Alex Mockler, Noah Cameron-Howe
