Women squash Western at OUAs

Women’s squash team places first at OUA championships at Carleton University in Ottawa while men’s team places fourth

The men’s and women’s squash teams traveled to Waterloo for the OUA championships last weekend, with the women’s team bringing home a gold medal and the men’s team coming home empty-handed.

The women’s team defeated the Western Mustangs 4-2 for a gold medal, while the men came shy of the podium losing to the McMaster Marauders in overtime in the bronze medal game.

The tournament required each team to submit their top six players. Each team’s first-ranked player faced the opposing first-ranked player.

The men’s players won two of six individual matchups against the McGill Redmen in the semifinal match demoting them to the bronze medal match against the Marauders. The teams were tied 3-3 after six games, forcing overtime in which McMaster took the edge. The Mustangs beat the Redmen 6-0 in the men’s championship round.

On the women’s side, after defeating the Blues 5-1 in semifinal action, the Gaels moved on to the Mustangs for the gold-medal round.

“We knew [Western] was out to beat us,” OUA rookie of the year Erin Roberts said. “They did not like us. There were some comments made and we knew they weren’t fans of us.”

The women’s squash team finished with a 23-1 record this season. Roberts, who went undefeated all season, said the team’s largest concern was keeping their egos in check.

“We were worried about was being overconfident,” she said, adding that before the championship match team captain Hilary Dugan called a meeting to refocus the team.

Although the tournaments involve one-on-one competition, Roberts said there was still the pressure of being responsible to the team.

“I’ve been in a lot of bigger tournaments but it’s always been individual, so I was playing for myself,” she said. “I was playing for the entire team this time, so I was worried about letting them down.”

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