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Montreal wins on last minute heroics

Tennis just doesn’t get any better than this.
The top two women’s tennis teams in Ontario University Athletics competition — the Western Mustangs and the Université de Montréal Carabins — battled it out at the Western Tennis Centre this past weekend.
Unfortunately, the Mustangs fell to the defending OUA champions by a 4-3 score after an intense tiebreaker in the deciding match.
“Montréal is the strongest team we are going to be hitting,” Western’s Emma Lecavalier said after her doubles victory with partner Paige Robinson.
The doubles tandem of Lecavalier and Robinson was an important part of Western’s impressive performance Saturday afternoon, winning their doubles match 8-7 (7-5) and Lecavalier winning her singles match 6-2, 6-4.
“We heard about Western. They are the team to beat,” Montréal assistant coach Samy Saad said.
Following a convincing 6-1 win over the York Lions on Friday, the Mustangs came prepared to play the best team in the league.
“We work on fitness especially. When you play a tough team you might be in it for three sets … we try to stay focused and keep the energy up,” fourth-year Mustang Chantal Forristal explained.
Western started off strong, winning all three matches in the doubles round to earn a one-point lead over Montréal.
“They are a tough team but we seemed to find their weaknesses and come out strong,” Robinson said after defeating Montréal’s top seeded doubles team.
The Western squad was also drawing from the depth and experience returning players offer.
“We haven’t lost anybody, only gained people … we have come back as returning members on the team, and I think that is a big part of our mental game and mental toughness,” Lecavalier said.
The Mustangs entered the singles matches with a positive attitude, needing to split the six matches to secure a win. Strong performances from Lecavalier and Diana Pogorski in the singles round set the score at 3-3 with the deciding match between the fourth seeds entering the third set.
Unfortunately for the Mustangs, Montréal’s Andrean Lussier defeated Western’s Carolynna Gabriel by a score of 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). In the end, the point was enough for Montréal to clinch the victory with a score of 4-3.
“We worked on our doubles and it obviously paid off today, but the singles were so close. It was a big finish,” Western head coach Mike Richards said.
Despite the loss, Richards is positive about the direction the team is heading and believes they can come out on top the next time the two teams meet.
“It makes us better, makes us stronger [and] gives us a chance. I think if we continue to work we will have a good chance to compete with these guys in the championship,” Richards said.
The Mustangs now head to Oshawa this Friday to play against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in their last OUA match of the regular season.

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