By Sarah Kraus, Staff Contributor
The boys from Saskatchewan were making their opponents scramble to all four corners of the glass court in The Tower at Saint Mary’s University.
In the first match, Matthew Mutschler from Saskatchewan left the court with a big smile after defeating Yukon’s Mustafa “Moose” Syed in a relatively one-sided battle.
After the first win, the Yukon appeared to deflate a bit, with players like Coleman Newell openly showing their frustration after fanning on a few balls by tapping their rackets on their shins.
Saskatchewan obviously had a strategy to keep their shots tight against the walls, which forced the Yukon to make a number of errors when their rackets collided with the glass.
As both teams came from so far away, it was unsurprising that the games lacked any visible fans, other than volunteers, teammates and coaches.
Between points, the territory’s teammates watching from the bleachers yelled “Yu-kon do it!” in support of their struggling friends.
The Saskatchewan women’s team was also supportive, but were more laid back (they had a massage train going at one point), knowing their male counterparts were in control throughout the matches.
Chris Turnicliffe really stood out for Saskatchewan. As their number one seed, his flashy gold racket reflected his outright domination over his opponent.
The only real challenge to Saskatchewan’s success was presented by Zain Syed, Moose’s older brother, who won the Yukon’s only game of the encounter.
The Syed brothers both qualified for the Canada Games after only two years of playing the sport.
Every team will get to play in the showcase glass court in The Tower’s gym during the preliminary stages, and all medal games will be played there on Thursday.
Editor’s note: Sarah Kraus is the media representative at Saint Mary’s University for the Canada Games. She also writes for the Gazette.
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