Waterloo 5, Western 2

Waterloo scored a remarkable win over Western when the Warriors played host to the Mustangs on Saturday at the Waterloo Tennis Club.

Western is the defending OUA champion and was the finalist at the National Universities Championships played earlier in August this year losing to Alberta. It was the final match of the official regular season for the Warriors. The home team could not ask for a better result to end it but all are aware that the results that matters most will be those at the season-ending OUA championships on Oct 1-13 in Toronto. Nevertheless, it was a well earned win by Waterloo despite the fact that it was not over Western's strongest lineup.  Even so, Waterloo served notice that they are a team not to be taken lightly in this 2019-20 season.

Their pre-game cheer, the loudest so far, was an indication of the Warriors resolve and energy that day. They took to the court energized for the doubles and while Waterloo's #3 team was being outplayed by a more synchronized Western team, the host teams #1 and #2 were outperforming their opponents.

No.2 team of DJ Fenerty and rookie Alex Oancea (Thornhill/) were a combination of power and touch. Oancea was on form playing almost flawlessly from the backcourt and Fenerty, taking advantage of his partner's fire power, won points with deft touches at the net.  At no. 1, Pavle Milic (Toronto) and John Chan (Whistler/), both possessing power games  overwhelmed the opposition. With no.1 and 2 teams winning their matches, Waterloo was off to an excellent start by taking the doubles point.

In the singles round, Waterloo's no.2 Oancea continued his inspired form from doubles to his singles game. He played solid tennis, defending and attacking with equal success. He was first off the court winning more quickly and easily than anticipated.  However, his doubles team mate, Fenerty started well enough but his opponent found his form and came roaring back to take the match in two sets. The score was now 2-1 in Waterloo's favour.

The match of the day, on a day of several fine performances, was perhaps that of the battle between Pavle Milic (Toronto) and Mark Jensen at no. 1.  The tall, hard-hitting rookie found his powerful shots being returned by Jensen who camped several feet from the baseline to successfully absorb and return the shots off Milic's racquet. This had the effect of unsettling Milic, who started making uncharacteristic errors in frustration as a result. Jensen took the first set 6-4. In the second set, Milic was 4-5 down with Jensen serving for the match.  At this point, the Warrior showed his mettle playing more composed but still aggressive tennis, by breaking Jensen to even the score 5-5. 

Before that, Jensen had been winning his service games fairly easily.  A boost for Milic and the reverse for Jensen. This was the point the tide turned. Milic went on to hold his serve and broke his opponent's serve again to win the second set 7-5.  Playing now with confidence, Milic ran out the third set winning it 6-1. It was a high quality match and the win put Waterloo  3-1 up.  One more win to upset the OUA champions suddenly appeared likely. That critical win came courtesy of Waterloo's no. 4 Eitan Rozin (Toronto/) who has been putting up fine performances this season. Even though the games were closely contested, neither players held back on their shots, impressive considering what the outcome of this match meant to both schools, more so for Waterloo. Rozin came through with a 7-6, 7-5 victory giving Waterloo a very rare team victory over Western with an unassailable 4-1 lead.  Another win at #5 by Josh Worme in three sets but a loss at no.6 ended the day's score 5-2 to Waterloo. 

No doubt to a man the Warriors were elated by this upset win over Western but their joy was respectfully muted.  It was a well- deserved achievement and the result of great performances by several Warriors on the day.
 
Doubles:
Pavle Milic (Toronto)/John Chan (Whistler/) bt Brent Moffatt/ Matt Erdman  8-2
DJ Fenerty/ Alex Oancea (Thornhill/) bt Mark Jensen/ Andrew Day 8-5
Eitan Rozin (Toronto/)/Josh Worme lost to Daniel Gharagozloo/ Victor Guziak  2-8
 
Singles:
Milic by Jensen  4-6, 7-5, 6-1
Oancea bt Erdman  6-0, 6-1
Fenerty lost to Moffatt  4-6, 2-6
Worme bt Gharagozloo  7-5, 6-7, 10-7
Saif Shoaib lost to Ethan Milavsky   2-8
 

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Waterloo 5, Guelph 2

With the official schedule behind them, the Warriors entertained the Guelph Gryphons in the first of two exhibition matches on their schedule.  The Warriors play their second exhibition match next Saturday, Oct. 5 against Queen's at the Waterloo Tennis Club.

Compared to the previous day's excitement, the match against Guelph was a low key one. Still, those present were treated to a very good match between Eitan Rozin (Toronto/) and Martin Hong, both playing at no. 1 for their schools.  Hong is no stranger to Rozin, the two having met last year with Hong eventually coming out on top in three close sets. Unfortunately the result was the same this year but fortunately the quality of play was as good or better than their previous encounter. The only other Waterloo loss was that of Eddie Wang (Richmond Hill/) who has been nursing a sore heel;  his mobility, a huge part of his game, was compromised.
 
Doubles:
DJ Fenerty/Alex Oancea (Thornhill/) bt Martin Hong/Peter Dibiluk  8-5
Josh Worme/Saif Shoaib bt Steven Loverick/Lucas Quevidas  8-2
Noah Cameron –Howe/Daniel Sauer (Thornhill/) bt Thomas Heyland/Ratul Sarker 8-1

Singles:
Rozin lost to Hong 1-6, 6-2, 9-11
Worme bt Dibiluk 7-6, 6-2
Eddie Wang (Richmond Hill/) lost to Andre Globob 5-7, 5-7
Shoaib bt Michael Stone 6-1, 6-2
Sauer bt Loverick  7-6, 6-1