Although the collapse of the Varsity Stadium deal last week seemed to cast a momentary shadow on sports at U of T, the women’s tennis and men’s baseball teams were able to end the week on a bright note.

The women’s tennis squad captured the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) title by defeating the McGill Martlets in the final on Saturday. They did this by winning four out of seven matches against McGill, thus taking home the first women’s tennis title for the Blues since 1984.

“It feels amazing to win a gold medal in any sport at any level,” said tennis coach Nabil Tadros. “We have won about four silvers in the last five years and have come so close on a few occasions.”

Laura Ozolins and Isabel Jarosz were standouts over the weekend and throughout the entire season. They both went undefeated in singles and doubles matches all year long.

“Going undefeated all year speaks for itself. They are amazing players,” commented Tadros. “They also have a great time when they are playing-always joking around and laughing. They have a great attitude towards playing sports.”

Qiuyan Tian and Karina Avramenko also contributed wins in the final matches against the Martlets. Qiuyan was able to win her singles and doubles match, while Karina won her doubles match with partner Tian.

The Blues knew they were on the right track when they defeated York in the first tournament of the year. York was coming into the season as the three-time defending champion.

“York had an amazing team last year. I knew they had most of their top-notch players back from last year, so I knew it was going to be tough to play them,” said Tadros. “But U of T also acquired an amazing player in Isabel [Jarosz], who came from Illinois University.”

The men’s baseball team also fared well over the weekend. They were able to take two games from Guelph University to advance into the OUA final this weekend against Brock.

The Blues won games one and three of the best-of-three playoff against the Gryphons by scores of 6-4 and 7-6. The first match was a come-from-behind victory, while in the second U of T almost squandered a 7-0 lead.

Coach Dan Lang described the keys to the Blues’ success: “We had good pitching, good defense, timely hitting from the bottom half of the order, and aggressive base running.”

The defending OUA champion Blues started off the year with an 0-6 record, which was unexpected considering the success of last season. The team was then able to turn things around and sneak into the playoffs with a record of 8-10.

Coach Lang did not believe that the slow start was as dramatic as it appeared: “It’s true we lost our first six games; but, of those games three were lost by one run and the other three were lost by two runs. Games that are that close can go either way, and they started going our way finally after that.”

Up next is the Brock Badgers, whom U of T defeated twice in the regular season. The Brock roster includes outfielder Adam Vella, who was named Most Valuable Hitter in the OUA, as well as two other first team all-stars in first baseman Dan Baribeau and second baseman Andy Wilson. Catcher Bryan Rock is the lone Blue on the first team.

Also honoured for an outstanding season was coach Lang. He was a joint winner of Coach of the Year, along with Western’s Mike Lumley.