This past weekend the Stratford Tennis Club held its annual Super Set Tournament. A record number of entries led to a change in the length of the match for the men. With 36 male entries the usual 8 games in a set was reduced to a regular set of 6 games. The ladies remained at 8 games for a set.

The Ladies ‘A’ final had Marta Andrekovic face Johanna Billings. Andrekovic had played great tennis all day and it continued in the final as she took the title with an 8-3 victory. The Ladies ‘A’ consolation title went to Erma Wernink who defeated newcomer Rileigh Jackson 8-5 in the final. Maria Donkers won the Ladies ‘B’ championship by downing Cox Wensink 8-3 in the title match. The Ladies ‘B’ consolation final saw Margreit Wensink edge Vanessa DeGroot 8-6 for the title.

The Men’s ‘A’ competition was dominated by Max Besworth. Besworth, the former Club Pro, was in town for the weekend and decided to join in the tournament.  Besworth cruised through the event winning the championship over Richard Bast by a 6-0 score. The ‘A’ consolation title went to Zdenko Andrekovic who crushed Tom Warnock 6-0 in the final. The ‘B’ championship went to Steven R. Schwartzentruber who out steadied Jim Wilson in the title match winning 6-2. The ‘B’ consolation title match saw two future stars of the Club face off. Evan Moorehead topped Kadin Dench 6-4 to win the championship capping an impressive day for the youngsters.

Bill White

 (l to r)  Ladies ‘A’ champions Marta Andrekovic , Ladies ‘A’ finalist Johanna Billings

 Men’s ‘A’ finalist Richard Bast , Men’s ‘A’ champion Max Besworth   

After being rained out the last two weeks, the Stratford Tennis League resumed its schedule this week. The early game had Donkers Agri facing Sunrise Health Services. The #1 ladies doubles went to Donkers with Sandie Ennett and Maria Donkers taking out Marta Andrekovic and Ginny Smith 6-1 6-4. Sunrise responded by taking the #2 ladies doubles as Erma Weernink and Marilyn Holmes scored a 6-4 6-1 win over Gail Shelton and Deb Mitchell. The #1 men’s doubles was a split of sets as John Fischer and Tom Warnock took the first set 6-3 for Sunrise but Richard Bast and Pat McCarroll prevailed 6-2 in the second set for Donkers. The #2 men’s doubles also split sets as the Sunrise team of Steven Schwartzentruber and Cameron Kramer won the first set 6-2 before falling in the second set in a tie breaker 7-6 (7 points to 4 in the tie-breaker) to Donkers’ team of Mike Furlong and Wayne Carney.

The match was tied heading into the four mixed doubles matches. The #1 mixed doubles went to Donkers with Ennett and Bast doubling up Andrekovic and Fischer 6-3. Sunrise’s Smith and Warnock defeated Donkers and McCarroll 6-2 in the #2 mixed doubles match up. The #3 mixed went to Donkers as Shelton and Furlong edged Weernink and Schwartzentruber 7-6 (7 points to 4 in the tie-breaker). Holmes and Kramer of Sunrise defeated Mitchell and Carney 6-3 to take the #4 mixed doubles. The nights match ended in a 6 sets to 6 sets tie.

The late game was a match up of first place Snap’d and fourth place Auto Works. The #1 Ladies Doubles went to Snap’d as Linda Doig and Deb Murphy scored a 7-6 (7 points to 5 in the tie-breaker) 6-4 win over Johanna Billings and Cox Wensink. The #2 ladies doubles was a split with Nancy Chung and Sandra Hofing of Auto Works taking the first set 7-5 while Marilyn Leasa and Michele Thomson responded with a 6-4 win in the second set for Snap’d. The #1 Men’s Doubles went to Snap’d as Grant McPherson and Chris Parson downed Jeremy Chisholm and Murray Schiedel 6-3 6-3. Auto Works romped in the #2 Men’s Doubles as Todd Chisholm and Gary Henry dominated Ric Oliver and Stuart Arkett 6-1 6-1.

With Snap’d leading 5 sets to 3 heading into the mixed doubles matches Auto Works caught fire. The #1 mixed doubles went to Auto Works as Billings and Jeremy Chisholm beat Doig and McPherson 6-4. Auto Works also took the #2 mixed doubles with Wensink and Schiedel scoring a 6-4 win over Murphy and Parson. Chung and Todd Chisholm doubled up Leasa and Oliver 6-3 in the #3 Mixed Doubles for another Auto Works victory. The mixed sweep was completed when Hofing and Henry of Auto Works took out Thomson and Arkett 6-4 in the #4 Mixed match. After roaring through the four mixed doubles sets, Auto Works secured a 7 sets to 5 sets victory on the night.

After three weeks of completed matches there is a tie for first place as Donkers Agri and Snap’d have 19 points, closely followed by Sunrise Health Services with 18 points and Auto Works at 16 points. Week 4 will have Auto Works face Donkers Agri in the early game and Snap’d takes on Sunrise Health Services in the late game.

                                                                         

The Stratford Tennis Club’s “Morning Group” celebrated Canada Day by holding a tournament and pot luck lunch. The usual round robin format of the group was replaced by set partners and a tournament format. 17 teams took part in the event.

The ‘A’ championship had Judy Nussey and Gary Henry take on Sheila Knechtel and Ric Oliver with Nussey and Henry coming out victorious for the title. The ‘A’ consolation final saw Carole Ann O’Connell and Dennis Tuling win the division by downing Julia Vryheid and Tom Warnock. The ‘B’ title went to Nancy Chung and Wilf Smyth who defeated Gail Shelton and Dale Bast in the final. Pat Koch and Bernie Laws won the ‘B’ consolation title with a win over Michele Thomson and Peter Stam in the final.

 Bill White

                                                                         

The second Royal LePage Hiller Realty junior tennis tournament was held Saturday June 21st. The singles event saw the same finalists as the first tournament and the same winners prevailing as Ashley Humphrey and Ryan Lay repeated their championships.

The Girls Singles ‘A’ event was dominated by Ashley Humphrey and Isabelle Thibeault as they breezed to their second straight final. Humphrey once again proved too steady for Thibeault as she scored an 8-2 victory to take the championship. The Girls Singles ‘B’ title went to Rachel Nash as she downed impressive youngster Lauren Okrainec in the final 8 games to 3.

The Boys Singles ‘A’ event had Ryan Lay facing Collin Rose for their second straight final. Lay jumped out to a big lead before Rose mounted a comeback. Eventually Lay closed out the match taking the championship with an 8-5 win. Evan Moorehead took the ‘A’ consolation title by blanking Kadin Dench 8-0 in the final. The Boys ‘B’ final was the days closest championship match of the day as Marcel Lundrigan edged Jared Larder 8-6 to take the title. The ‘B’ consolation title went to Luke McCarroll as he downed Michael Vandewiel 8-3 in the championship match.

Bill White

   

The Stratford Tennis Club held its annual regional Men’s and Ladies Doubles Tournament this past weekend. For 46 years the Club has held this event on the second Saturday in June. This tournament, founded and the format invented by Ray Cornish, drew players from the region for a full day of tennis and a barbeque in the park. After 10 years of being a part of the Tennis Access Tour, the Club struck out on its own to recapture the southwestern area feel to the event. Players from Waterloo, Cambridge, and London joined teams from the host club in this 2014 tournament.

The Ladies Doubles saw 9 teams compete in the round robin portion which determines whether teams advance to the ‘A’ or ‘B’ playoff. The ‘A’ playoff had two teams from Cambridge, 1 from London, and the Stratford team of Marta Andrekovic and Ginny Smith compete for the championship. In the semifinals, Andrekovic and Smith fell to Gwen Chaisson  and Kim Hutt-Taylor of Cambridge 8-4. The other semifinal saw Mary Ann Gaskin and Sue Ovenden of Cambridge top Donna Scott and Gail Lockyer of London 8 – 3. This set up an all Cambridge final. Gaskin has won this tournament more times than any other player in the history of the event. With usual partner Peggy Fairs of London unavailable this year, it was Ovenden’s turn to help Gaskin to another title. Gaskin and Ovenden took the championship match 8-4 over their fellow Cambridge players. 

The Ladies ‘B’ division saw a collection of Stratford teams in the running for the title. The first semifinal saw Stratford’s Sandie Ennett and Kaitlyn Mathieson take on Lisa Hoffman and Suzanne Edwards of Waterloo. The visitors prevailed, advancing to the final with an 8-4 victory. The other semifinal was a battle of Stratford teams. Johanna Billings and Deb Murphy downed Michele Thomson and Erma Weernink 8-1 to book their spot in the final. The championship match saw Hoffman and Edwards outlast Billings and Murphy scoring an 8-5 win to take the title.

The Men’s Doubles event also had 9 teams competing during the day. The ‘A’ playoff had defending champions Matt Brown and Sung Min Yoon of Waterloo joined by Marcel Rydenski and Bob Boudreau of Cambridge and two Stratford teams; John and Luke Fischer as well as Grant McPherson and Paul Coates. The semifinals saw the defending champions Brown and Yoon take out Rydenski and Boudreau 8-1 to advance to the final. The all Stratford semifinal was dominated by McPherson and Coates as they dispatched the Fischers 8 games to 1. In the championship match, the defending champions could not be stopped. Brown and Yoon cruised to their second consecutive title with an 8-0 shutout of McPherson and Coates.

The Men’s ‘B’ playoffs had several Stratford players vying for the title. Both semifinals were the closest matches of the day with both ending in tie-breakers. The first semifinal had Graham Heaton of Stratford and partner Dominik Sadowski of Burlington edge out Zdenko Andrekovic of Stratford and Miki Susic of Oakville 8-7 (7 points to 3 in the tie-breaker) to advance to the final. The other semifinal was a battle between Stratford teams as Nathan Duh and Greg Vivian took on Pat McCarroll and Murray Schiedel. McCarroll and Schiedel were able to outlast Duh and Vivian 8-7 (7 points to 5 in the tie-breaker) setting their place in the final. The final belonged to McCarroll and Schiedel as they doubled up Heaton and Sadowski 8 – 4 to claim the championship.

Many thanks go out to Rob and Chris Duh for their great help with the spectacular barbeque and Lynn Bast for purchasing the barbeque necessities. Thanks to Stacey Wilson and John Noble for the prize purchases and donations. Also a big thank you to Michele Thomson, Ginny Smith, Debbie Mitchell, Monica Eickmeyer, Nancy Chung, and Ruth Cornish for donating the delicious salads. Many positive comments were made by our out of town visitors about these salads, with even some requests for the recipes. A special shout goes out to Greg Misener ( The Fudge Guy ) for his generous donation to our gift packages. It was a very sweet gesture and greatly appreciated! The help of all our members has led to the Club having its most successful fundraising June doubles tournament in many years. A great day was had by all at the Club and it was also a great day for the Club!

The Stratford Tennis League played week 2 of its schedule June 10th. The early game saw Snap’d take on Auto Works. The #1 ladies doubles went to Snap’d as Linda Doig and Debbie Murphy swept Johanna Billings and Cox Wensink 6-2 6-3. There was a split in the #2 ladies doubles with Marilyn Leasa and Michele Thomson of Snap’d taking the first set 6-3 and Nancy Chung and Sandra Hofing of Auto Works taking the second set by the same 6-3 score. Snap’d took the #1 men’s doubles as Grant McPherson and Chris Parson downed Murray Schiedel and Jeremy Chisholm 6-2 7-5. A split in the #2 men’s doubles saw Larry Shurrie and Stephen Fischer of Snap’d blank Todd Chisholm and Stuart Arkett 6-0 in the first set before Chisholm and Arkett gave Auto Works the second set 7-5.

The mixed doubles opened with Auto Works winning the #1 mixed 7-6 (7 points to 4 in the tie-breaker) as Billings and Schiedel edged Doig and McPherson. The #2 mixed went to Snap’d as Murphy and Parson doubled up Wensink and Jeremy Chisholm 6-3. Auto Works won the #3 mixed as Chung and Todd Chisholm downed Leasa and Shurrie 6-2. Thomson and Fischer of Snap’d scored a 6-2 win over Hofing and Arkett in the #4 mixed match. In conclusion, Snap’d took 8 sets to 4 against Auto Works for a week 2 win.

The late game was a match up of Sunrise Health Services and Donkers Agri. The match up of #1 ladies doubles went to Sunrise as Marta Andrekovic and Ginny Smith swept Sandie Ennett and Maria Donkers 6-2 7-6 (7 points to 5 in the tie-breaker). Donkers took the #2 ladies doubles as Lindsay Murray and Monica Eickmeyer took out Erma Weernink and Marilyn Holmes 6-3 6-4. The #1 men’s doubles had a split of sets as Paul Coates and John Fischer of Sunrise won the first set 7-6 (7 points to 3 in the tie-breaker) and Richard Bast and Pat McCarroll of Donkers took the second set 6-3. Mike Furlong and Bill Steele of Donkers swept the #2 men’s doubles with a 6-4 6-3 win over Tyler Kocher and Cameron Kramer.

Sunrise scored a 7-6 (7 points to 2 in the tie-breaker) win in the #1 mixed as Andrekovic and Coates edged Ennett and Bast. Donkers dominated the #2 mixed with Donkers and McCarroll blanking Smith and Fischer 6-0. Murray and Furlong scored a 6-4 victory over Weernink and Kocher to give the #3 mixed to Donkers. Holmes and Kramer of Sunrise won the #4 mixed with a 6-2 downing of Eickmeyer and Steele. The match up for week 2 went to Donkers with a 7 sets to 5 sets advantage.

The standings after two weeks of the 2014 season, see Snap’d taking over first place. One point behind is Donkers Agri , with Sunrise Health Services falling to third place. Auto Works trails in fourth. Next week the early game will have Snap’d face off against Sunrise Health Services , while Auto Works attempts to get in gear against Donkers Agri in the late game.

Bill White

The Stratford Tennis Club held its annual Super Set Doubles Tournament this past Saturday. The beautiful weather and large number of entries led to a long, glorious day of tennis. 

There were 11 ladies doubles teams that participated in the event. The ‘A’ final was contested between Marta Andrekovic & Maria Donkers  and Krista Plociennik & Sandie Ennett. Both teams had put in strong performances advancing to the final. The championship match was controlled by Plociennik and Ennett. Many great rallies ended in their favour leading to an 8 – 4 win.

Plociennik, just back from Scotland where she had a very successful university tennis season, had won the title last year with partner Claire Scott. The ‘A’ consolation final saw Johanna Billings and Debbie Murphy down Marilyn Holmes and Marilyn Leasa 8 – 3 for the title. Gail Shelton and Nancy Chung won the ladies ‘B’ title with an 8 – 4 victory over Noella Schiedel and Caryn Scott. The ladies ‘B’ consolation final saw sisters-in-law Barb Thibeault and Allison Hiller  double up the mother / daughter team of Cox and Margreit Wensink with an 8 – 4 win.

The men’s event had 13 entries of many different ages and years of experience. The ‘A’ final showed that younger age may have trumped years of experience. The youngster team of Grant McPherson and Greg Vivian overpowered and out moved the experienced team of Zdenko Andrekovic and Bill White. Andrekovic and White had come back from 2 match points down in 2 of their previous matches, including the semifinal, but were no match for McPherson and Vivian. With big serves and superior net play, McPherson and Vivian took the championship with an 8 – 3 victory. This is McPherson’s second straight Super Set doubles championship, winning last season with Travis Hiller. The ‘A’ consolation title went to Murray Schiedel and Brent Hiller with an 8 – 4 win over John Noble and Richard Bast in the final. Luke Fischer and Tom Warnock took the ‘B” championship edging Pat McCarroll and Mike Furlong 8 – 6 in the championship match. The father / son team of Jim and James Wilson took the ‘B’ consolation title over Stuart Arkett and Steve Fischer with an 8 – 5 win. 

It was a great day at the Stratford Tennis Club for the 48 participants and many spectators. The players now get four weeks to recover before the Super Set singles tournament on July 5. 

Bill White

The Stratford Tennis League opened its 2014 season this week. The early game saw Donkers Agri take on Snap’d. The #1 men’s doubles match up had a split of sets with Donkers’ Richard Bast and Pat McCarroll taking the first set  6-4, and Grant McPherson and Chris Parson of Snap’d taking the second set 6-3. The #2 men’s doubles went to Donkers as Mike Furlong and Bill Steele swept Larry Shurrie and Ric Oliver 7-6 (7 points to 5 in the tie-breaker) and 6-3. The #1 ladies doubles also went to Donkers as Sandie Ennett and Maria Donkers scored a 7-6 (7 points to 2 in the tie-breaker) 6-2 win over Linda Doig and Deb Murphy. Snap’d rebounded to take the #2 ladies doubles as Marilyn Leasa and Michele Thomson beat Lindsay Murray and Liz Yundt 6-2 6-3.

The #1 mixed doubles saw Ennett and Bast of Donkers edge Doig and McPherson 6-4. Snap’d took the #2 mixed match as Murphy and Parson scored a 6-4 win over Donkers and McCarroll. Leasa and Shurrie of Snap’d downed Murray and Furlong 6-4 to take the #3 mixed match. Snap’d won the #4 mixed as Thomson and Oliver scored a 6-4 victory over Yundt and Steele. This resulted in the opening match of the 2014 season ending in a 6 sets to 6 sets tie.

The late game had Auto Works face off against Sunrise Health Services. Sunrise took the #1 men’s doubles as Paul Coates and Tom Warnock walloped Jeremy Chisholm and Wayne Carney 6-1 6-1. The #2 men’s doubles was a split of sets as Auto Works’ Todd Chisholm and Stephan Anderson won the first set 6-2 while Steven Schwartzentruber and Stuart Arkett of Sunrise Health took the second set 6-1. Sunrise Health swept the #1 ladies doubles as Marta Andrekovic and Ginny Smith defeated Johanna Billings and Cox Wensink  7-6 (7 points to 3 in the tie-breaker) , 6-0. Nancy Chung and Sandra Hofing of Auto Works scored a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Marilyn Holmes and Debra Mitchell to take the #2 ladies doubles. 

 The #1 mixed doubles went to Sunrise Health as Andrekovic and Coates edged Billings and Jeremy Chisholm 7-6 (7 points to 4 in the tie-breaker). Smith and Warnock blanked Wensink and Carney 6-0 to take the #2 mixed doubles for Sunrise Health. Auto Works won the #3 mixed as Chung and Todd Chisholm downed Holmes and Schwartzentruber 6-2. The #4 mixed doubles went to Auto Works as well, with Hofing and Anderson scoring a 6-1 win over Mitchell and Arkett. Sunrise Health Services won the match 7 sets to 5.

After week 1, Sunrise Health Services with 7 sets won sits in first place. Donkers Agri and Snap’d are tied with 6 sets won while Auto Works trails with 5 sets won. Week 2 will see Snap’d take on Auto Works in the early game and Sunrise Health Services facing Donkers Agri in the late game.

 Bill White                                                                                    Jeremy Chisholm of Auto Works serves in the men’s doubles match .

The Stratford Tennis Club recently held its first Royal LePage Hiller Realty junior tennis tournament of the season. The beautiful weather allowed the players to put their best abilities on display and led to many close, high caliber matches.

The girls ‘A’ final saw Ashley Humphrey defeat Isabelle Thibeault 8 – 1 in the championship match. The girls ‘B’ final had Mackenzie Dumais score an 8 – 5 victory over Megan Furlong for the title.

The boys ‘A’ champion was Ryan Lay who scored an 8 – 2 win over Collin Rose to take the title. The boys ‘A’ consolation final saw Marcel Lundrigan outlast Luke McCarroll 8 – 6 for the win. The boys ‘B’ championship went to Matthew Vandewiel with an 8 – 2 victory over Stefan Andrekovic in the final. Kadin Dench took the boys ‘B’ consolation title with an 8 – 4 win over Ronan McCarroll in the championship match.

The next Royal LePage Hiller Realty junior tournament will take place on Saturday, June 21st.