Tennis: Both Marauders Tennis Teams Finish Fourth at OUA Championships

McMaster advanced to the medal rounds with Day 1 victories over Carleton and Brock

Earning the right to compete for medals with their performances on the opening day of the OUA Championships, the Marauders tennis teams ultimately fell short of the podium on Sunday at the Mayfair East Club in Markham, Ont.

McMaster's men were swept by the York Lions 7-0 in their bronze medal encounter, while the women fared slightly better in dropping a 6-1 decision to the Lions, as both programs finished fourth at the conference event.

They earned the opportunity to compete for medals with a pair of day one victories, with the men sweeping the Carleton Ravens 7-0 and the women edging the Brock Badgers 4-3 to advance to the semifinals.

McMaster dominated play en route to winning 72 percent of games played in the men's day one tie, with Poorshad Afshar delivering the double bagel to Carleton's Matthew Bees 6-0, 6-0 to open singles action. Martin Zelikovsky followed with a straightforward 6-0, 6-1 victory over Tyler Yee, Myles Harrison downing Max Recollecte 7-5, 6-1 and Freeman Paczkowskiwinning 6-3, 6-1 over Vlad Pac to complete a Marauders sweep of the singles.

Doubles victories for the combos of Afshar and Marko Kacar and Zelikovsky and Adam Xie sealed the tie for McMaster, booking them a matchup with the Toronto Varsity Blues in Saturday's semifinals.

There, the Marauders were roundly beaten, winning just 21 games across the tie's nine matches and being swept 7-0 to be sent to Sunday's bronze medal match.

A more competitive tie followed on Sunday, with Afshar, Paczkowski and Daniel Kucey pushing singles rubbers to third sets, but the Marauders were unable to snag wins from those contested matches, and once again fell 7-0 to complete their tournament. That came despite a spirited fightback from the duo of Zelikovsky and Viktor Kapetanovic in the third doubles rubber, who battled back from a break down at 2-5, and 0-6 down in the ensuing tiebreak, to defeat Jeremy Guttmann and Andrew Razaev 8-6 in the breaker.

Their victory was not reflected in the final team score, as the format awards a single point for the three doubles rubbers on a best two of three basis.

On the women's side, McMaster and Brock combined for the most fiercely-contested tie of the weekend, with the Marauders eventually coming out on the winning side 4-3.

The two teams split the singles rubbers evenly, with Mac's Maya Emerson coming through in three sets against Liana Bitimirova 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, while Priti Gujadhur raced past Claire Alexander 6-0, 6-0 and Adele Lee similarly dropped the double bagel on Brock's Alexandra Bula.

All three contributed yet again in the doubles, where Gujadhur and Julia Schuster defeated Bitimirova and Nicole Clarke 8-6 and Emerson and Lee teamed to handily dispose of Alexander and Bula 8-1 to seal the tie for the Marauders.

Much like their male counterparts, the McMaster women found themselves in tough on Saturday, blitzed by the eventual champions from Western while winning just 20 games as a group and dropping their tie 7-0 to head to the bronze medal stage.

In that last tie of the weekend against the York Lions, the Marauders picked up a singles victory through Lee, who downed Randa Hassan 6-2, 6-3, and watched a few tight results go against them to seal the afternoon.

Emerson agonizingly dropped both sets of her singles rubber in tiebreakers, losing out to York's Sara Krupica 6-7, 6-7, before she and Lee similarly came out on the losing end of their doubles rubber by the smallest of margins, losing 7-8 to Hassan and Heather Hills.

Ultimately, the Marauders fell 6-1 as a group to settle for fourth on the weekend.

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Players Mentioned

Poorshad Afshar: 1

Myles Harrison: 1

Marko Kacar: 3

Viktor Kapetanovic: 4

Daniel Kucey: 5

Freeman Paczkowski: 3

Adam Xie: 2

Martin Zelikovsky: 2

Maya Emerson: 1

Priti Gujadhur: 5

Adele Lee: 1

Julia Schuster: 1

Players Mentioned

Poorshad Afshar
: 1

Myles Harrison
: 1

Marko Kacar
: 3

Viktor Kapetanovic
: 4

Daniel Kucey
: 5

Freeman Paczkowski
: 3

Adam Xie
: 2

Martin Zelikovsky
: 2

Maya Emerson
: 1

Priti Gujadhur
: 5

Adele Lee
: 1

Julia Schuster
: 1