Facing off against the Montréal Carabins is no easy task, but the Varsity Blues’ men’s and women’s tennis teams took on the challenge. The matches were a flurry of smashes, lobs, exhausted gasps, and frustrated shouts — with hard hits and even harder losses.

Blues Zain Manji and Ivan Markovic dealt a devastating loss to the Carabins.  Opening up the score gave way to an advantageous flow for the duo. Racking up more points, Manji and Markovic ended the game swiftly.

Following his doubles win, Manji won his singles match (No.1 position) with two consecutive winning sets; Manji started and ended strong with a 6–1 and 6–3 score, respectively. This match saw quick plays as well as frustrating mistakes for Université de Montréal.

Manji states that composure during the game is crucial: “Stay focused and do not show anger. Once he [Manji’s opponent from Montréal] started to get frustrated, I knew I just had to keep doing what I was doing [to win].”

Varsity Blues’ Jennifer Cape also started her game off strong, winning her first set 6-2. In a twist, she conceded defeat to Montréal in the second and third set, 6–3 and 6–4, respectively.

“I tried to rally more to get the lead [after the first set]. I didn’t play as aggressively as before. Playing aggressively means that there is more room to make mistakes,” said Cape, who played a “neutral” game, which she believes disadvantaged her.

The match lasted over two hours, tiring out both players. Despite being tired and pushed to her limits, Cape kept her cool and finished valiantly. Being a seasoned athlete, Cape stated that it is important to “be respectful of your opponent and team and don’t lose focus.”

“Both teams played well; some matches could have been won. They were undefeated….but we were missing players,” said head coach Nabil Tadros. Tadros hopes to see improvement before next week’s tournament.

Manji explained in advance about the Sunday matches: “We’re optimistic that Waterloo is good. I think that Montréal is a better team so we should be alright.” He also warned, however, that it is important not to get overconfident.

The men’s and women’s teams both won their matchups against Waterloo on Sunday, 5–2 and 6–1 respectively. The Team Championship will take place on October 4 in London.