Badminton Mounties win 91 of 100 points, showing their dominance in the ACAA
Mount Allison University hosted its ACAA home badminton tournament on Saturday, Jan. 16 against Dalhousie AC, Université Sainte-Anne and the University of King’s College. The Mounties began 2016 with a commanding victory and dominated the entertaining tournament, scoring 91 of a possible 100 points. Université Sainte-Anne finished in second place with 59 points and Dal AC came in third with 50, narrowly beating out the University of King’s College, who finished with 47 points.
In the men’s ‘A’ singles, the previously undefeated Jaryd Morrissey was upset in his final singles match of the day by an excellent Joël Arsenault of Université Sainte-Anne. Morrissey lost 21-8, then 21-15 in a game he was favoured to win. However, Morrissey hit some superb shots and finished second in his group. Hamza Munawar fared better in the men’s ‘B’ singles, winning all three of his matches. Munawar toyed with his opponents, winning all of his matches comfortably, including a 21-0 set.
The results for the Mt. A women’s singles players were the same as the men’s. In the women’s ‘A’ singles, Gillian Tetlow placed second. She fell just short in the most enticing and hard-fought game of the day, narrowly losing to Maddie Alvarez of King’s 21-10, 14-21 and 21-18. Elizabeth Baker in the women’s ‘B’ singles gained all 10 points for the Mounties, going undefeated on her way to first place. Baker also won a set 21-0.
In men’s doubles, Munawar was tasked with playing doubles for the first time in three years with the powerful Michael Miller, who was playing in his final tournament at Mt. A. The pair played as if they had been playing together for years, but lost one match to King’s in a game in which the pair will rue their missed opportunities. In men’s doubles ‘B,’ John Lynch and Riley Shewan cruised through their matches with ease. They nearly succumbed to complacency when they almost surrendered a 19-6 lead but survived the scare, holding on to win the set 21-18.
Women’s ‘A’ doubles team Olivia Adams and Kristyn Visser, as well as the women’s ‘B’ doubles team Maggie Renouf and Maddy Morrissey, went undefeated. Mixed doubles ‘B’ team Meghan Adams and John Lynch also did not lose a match on their way to securing all 10 points for the Mounties. Jaryd Morrissey and Gillian Tetlow dropped one game, but secured first place for the Mounties via a tiebreaker.
The Mounties will look to continue their outstanding form at the next tournament, to be hosted Jan. 22-23 at the University of King’s College in Halifax.
