Junior Tour outdoor season starts at Deer Lodge

Deer Lodge Tennis Club is a regular stop on the Tennis Manitoba
 Open Tour, and now kicks off the 2012 TM Junior Tour outdoor season.
Pictured here is tournament director Sean Grassie and former
women's open champion, Clarissa Chen.

The 2012 outdoor tournament season in Manitoba is right around the corner for competitive juniors 18 years of age and younger. The action all starts on Thursday, May 10th at the Deer Lodge Junior Open, hosted by Deer Lodge Tennis Club in Winnipeg. 

The Junior Tour 2012 spring season includes stops at:

• Deer Lodge Junior Open at Deer Lodge Tennis Club
• Head Junior Classic at Glendale & Sargent Park
• World of Water Junior Open at Kildonan Tennis Club
• Tuxedo Junior Open at Tuxedo Tennis Club
• Manitoba Junior Open at Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club

The Tennis Manitoba Junior Tour tournaments are used as national qualifying events for players residing in Manitoba and also provide national ranking points for those players residing in Canada.

For more details, check out the 2012 Tennis Manitoba Junior Tour schedule.

Sign up for TM Junior Tour notifications.

Western Canadian Senior Indoor National Championships

Longtime doubles partners Geoff Kirbyson (left) and Peter Otto
shoot for a fourth straight national senior men's championship.
(Photo on file, courtesy of Winnipeg Free Press.

We're playing a little catch up here, but kudos to the Manitobans that travelled to Vancouver in March to participate in the Western Canadian Senior Indoor National Championships. There were 210 players representing 7 provinces, and more than 350 matches played at four different sites.

Representing Manitoba were:

• Leeha Bryk
• Geoff Kirbyson
• Peter Otto
• Tony Weekes.

Geoff Kirbyson and Peter Otto just missed out on their attempt to collect their fourth championship, as they were fianlists in both the Men's 35 Doubles and Men's 40 Doubles. More info...

Community Fundamentals Instructors Course

Tennis Manitoba is offering a Community Fundamentals Instructors Level 1 course in May. The course details are as follows:

Date: Sunday, May 20, 2012
Time: 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Place: Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club
Cost: $25

The course focuses on teaching and running tennis programs in school gyms and community centres. People who hold this certificate will be eligible to work in Tennis Manitoba After School Programs, Community Centre Programs, and other community based programs. It is not necessary to be a tennis player to take this course.

For more information or to register, please email Rob Langan at rob@tennismanitoba.com.

Tennis Canada Instructor Course - Level 1

Tennis Manitoba is planning to offer a Tennis Canada Instructor Course - Level 1 this spring.

The course is a national certification and is 35 hours in duration. In order to offer the course, a minimum number of participants are required. If you are interested, please contact Angela Earl at (204) 925-5660 or email angela@tennismanitoba.com.

College Updates: April 23, 2012

Most of our Manitoba NCAA student athletes were wrapping up their college tennis seasons this past weekend. Here are some updates on those that were able to pick up wins for their teams.

The St. Scholastica women's tennis team won its 100th consecutive
Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) dual match.

The St. Scholastica women's tennis team defeated Northwestern College 6-3, with Aleksandra (Ola) Ochrymowicz picking up a win in the No. 6 spot. The Cougars were later victorious over the University of Minnesota Morris, where Ola was able to shut out her opponent 6-0, 6-0. Read more...

The Robert Morris University women's tennis team participated in the 2012 Northeast Conference Tournament. Although the Colonials were not able to advance in the tournament, Clarissa Chen was able to pick up wins in the No. 2 doubles spot verus Sacred Heart and Saint Francis. Read more...

The CSU-Pueblo's Men's tennis team claimed fifth spot at RMAC Championship. Saul Shrom won at No. 2 singles, 6-2, 6-3. Read more...

Evann Waschuk pitched in with a win in the No. 1 doubles spot to help Bellarmine University women close out their 14-6 season with a  7-2 victory over Centre College. Read more...

Bailey named OVC Player of the Year

Sean Bailey (Courtesy: B Sparn/APSU)

An undefeated season in Ohio Valley Conference play at No. 1 singles led to junior Sean Bailey, of the Austin Peay State University men's tennis team, being named first-team All-OVC and the earning the OVC Men's Player of the Year honor.

Bailey moved to No. 1 singles after opening the season with four straight wins at No. 2. For the junior Canadian, the promotion was overdue. He dropped his first match against No. 71 Georgia State and finished the season unbeaten in his last 14 matches, including an 11-match win streak entering the conference tournament.

He was perfect in league play, going 7-0 as part of 15-2 dual-match record. He finished 9-2 at No. 1 singles and 6-0 at No. 2 singles. In doubles, Bailey teamed with and mentored Ristovski, compiling a 9-9 mark at No. 1 doubles, winning five of eight during OVC play. It is the third All-OVC honor for Bailey, being named second-team All-OVC as a freshman and first-team All-OVC as a sophomore.

"Sean has a great dedication to the game," head coach Malik Tabet said. "He's very deserving with the tremendous amount of work he put in to achieve what he did this year. When he came in, he had very little match experience and that has improved the most this year. It proves that hard work and studying the game will pay off.

"I showed him a video of his freshman year and he couldn't believe how much has improved. His strategy and his demeanor have all improved so much in a three-year span."

This marks the seventh time an APSU player was named OVC Men's Player of the Year. Noel Phillips (1973, 1974) and Gary Boss (1976, 1977) each earned the award twice. Hal Jolley (1981) and Carlos Claverie (1983) were the last two Govs awarded.

Courtesy: Austin Peay Sports Information

College Updates: April 16, 2012

Here's an update on Manitoba student athletes who pick up wins for their NCAA tennis teams this past weekend.

CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves Men's Tennis

Colorado State University-Pueblo faced #4 Regionally ranked MSU-Billings, where Saul Shrom was able to get a No. 3 singles 6-3, 6-3 victory. Then against the team from Nebraska-Kearney, Saul was able to repeat his singles performance and also picked up a doubles win with partner Alex Lesiuk. The Canadian duo worked their magic and pulled off the upset 8-6 against the Lopers #1 regionally ranked doubles team, for their sixth win of the season. The CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves start RMAC Tournament action Friday, April 20, 2012 in Denver, Colo. Read more...

Aleksandra (Ola) Ochrymowicz helped St. Scholastica defeat North Central University 9-0 with her win at the No. 4 spot 6-2, 6-1. Ola followed up with a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Bethany Lutheran to duplicate a 9-0 team win. Read more...

Jessica Silva won at the No. 6 position, 6-4, 6-1 verus SIU Edwardsville to help her University of Tennessee at Martin tennis team get into the Ohio Valley Conference tournament as the No. 2 seed. Read more...

Sean Bailey helped his Austin Peay State University men's tennis team earn the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Ohio Valley Conference Tennis Tournament, defeating Morehead State, 4-0, in the regular-season finale. Sean was able to win at the No. 1 doubles position in a close 8-6 match. Read more...

Bailey gets second OVC weekly award

Junior Sean Bailey, of the Austin Peay State University men's tennis team was named the Ohio Valley Conference co-Male Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced Wednesday.

Bailey's play at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles is a large reason why Austin Peay is tied for second in the OVC standings with a 5-1 league record. The junior from Manitoba, Canada, moved into the Govs top position in late February and has excelled.

"Sean deserves this award, no question," said head coach Malik Tabet. "He's been playing very good tennis and the Tennessee Tech match is great example. He had to work hard and make adjustments in order to pull off the win."

Over the past week, Bailey went 3-0 in singles, winning each match in straight sets. He opened the week with wins against Tennessee State and Jacksonville State at home. On the road at Tennessee Tech, Bailey needed an opening-set tiebreaker, but took the second set in convincing 6-2 fashion. The win was his 10thstraight.

Bailey has teamed with freshman Dimitar Ristovski at No. 1 doubles, where they went 2-1 during the week. On the season, the tandem has a 4-2 OVC mark.

This is the second time Bailey has been named the league's player of the week.

Courtesy: Austin Peay Sports Information

College Updates: April 9, 2012

Here's an update on Manitoba student athletes who pick up wins for their NCAA tennis teams this past weekend.

Alex Lesiuk in action with CSU-Pueblo. 

The CSU-Pueblo Men's Tennis team took part in a two day, four team, round robin match play this past weekend and picked up two big wins. Alex Lesiuk (Fr., Winnipeg, Canada) picked up three of the teams five wins, two singles wins and a doubles. His first victory was a three set upset win over Metro State's sixth ranked player, Gabriel Vlahos (7-6, 4-6, 6-3) and then added another against Sonoma State (CA). Fellow Winnipegger Saul Shrom was also able to contribute with both singles and doubles wins. Read more...

Sean Bailey helped Austin Peay State University men's tennis team defeat Jacksonville State 5-2, with wins at both number 1 positions in singles and doubles. Later in the weekend, Sean was able to contribute a singles win in a 3-4 losing cause against Tennessee Tech. Read more...

Evann Waschuk helped Bellarmine University (13-5) defeat Great Lakes Valley Conference rival Saint Joseph's College 8-1, with her wins at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles. Read more...

On the Bellarmine University men's team, Alan Gardiner chipped in with a No. 6 singles win verus the University of Indianapolis, as well as a No. 2 doubles win against Saint Joseph's College. Read more...

College Updates: April 2, 2012

This past weekend a few of our Manitoba student athletes helped pick up wins for their NCAA tennis teams.

Jessica Silva helped UT Martin defeat Tennessee State 7-0 as she picked up wins in the No. 5 singles position and No. 3 doubles spot. Read more...

Evann Waschuk helped with wins at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles as Bellarmine University rolled past Great Lakes Valley Conference rival Kentucky Wesleyan 9-0. The Bellarmine Knights are now 12-4 for the year, and 2-1 in GLVC conference play. Read more...

Sean Bailey (pictured below) picked up a singles win for Austin Peay State University at the No. 2 position against Troy. Read more...