This past weekend, 10 University of Waterloo Warriors competed in the Canadian University Squash Championships at the Northfield Racquet and Fitness Club in Waterloo.
 
The favorite of the tournament, Cameron Seth (Fergus/), played a spectacular tournament and fought hard to capture the bronze medal. Cam won his first two matches 3-0 to make it to the semifinals where he faced Roman Svec and lost a tough one in 4. For the bronze medal match, it was an OUA rematch against Albert Shoihet (Western). The hour and a half match had the jam-packed audience on the edge of their seats with ridiculously long rallies and games going into extra points. Cam went down 2-0 but showed his warrior strength and perseverance to come back and win in 5! Men's Open Champion was Andrew Schnell of Calgary. 
 
Natasha Seth (Fergus/) demonstrated her experience yet again to capture the bronze medal in the women's open event. In the quarter finals Natasha narrowly beat Chrissie Arnold (UBC) 12-10 in the fifth to set up a semifinal with the number 1 seed Jaycee Spagrud (Regina). Natasha played some great squash in the semifinal; however it was not enough to beat Jaycee losing 3-0. Natasha turned it around in the 3/4 playoff to easily dispatch Evelyn Moorhouse (Toronto) 3-0. Women's Open Champion was Alix Younger from Manitoba. 
 
In Men's A, warriors Diego Caballero (Bucamaranga/) and Jeff Muirhead (Waterloo/) both played great squash to make it to the semifinals where they lost to Alexander Seto and Andrew Chong respectively. The UW warriors were then matched to face off in the bronze medal match, and as expected, the match went to a close 5 games with Diego Caballero (Bucamaranga/) prevailing in the end. 
 
In Women's B, Marisa Seth (Fergus/) captured the bronze medal. She had fantastic matches taking both the Women's A champion and the Women's B Champion to 5 games.
 
Ben Sinai and Ali Syed Ubaid (Waterloo/) competed in the Men's C division. Both players cruised through the quarterfinals, winning 3-0 against their opponents. In the semifinal Ben pulled off a big upset taking out the number 1 seed in 4 close games. In the other semifinal, Ali played some excellent squash, but lost in a tough 5 games. The finals saw Ben come back from 1 game down to win 3-1 over Brett Van Der Zalm (Brock), taking the Gold Medal!
 
The warriors were all about the bronze medals as Hannah Dabrowski (Waterloo/) captured another bronze in the Women's C division! In the semifinals, Hannah had a tough match against the hard hitting Cristina Chow from Toronto. Hannah's smart and fierce playing took her to 5 games but she just barely missed out on the finals losing 12-10 in the fifth.  
 
In Women's D, Pryangka Rao moved effortlessely into the finals winning both her matches 3-0. The finals went to 4 games and Pryangka captured the silver! Kristin Elton (Collingwood/) played some great matches to place 4th. 
 
It was a great weekend full of spectacular squash from all across Canada. Overall, the Waterloo Warriors had a great result capturing 1 gold medal, 1 silver medal, and 5 bronze medals. 
 
A big thank you goes to the Northfield Racquet and Fitness Club for hosting and to all of the sponsors and refs. As well, it could not have been done without the dedicated efforts of Vinit Kudva (UW coach) and many UW squash team alumnus who volunteered for the event. 
 
The Warriors will close up the season this coming weekend at the Jester's Finals at NSA.