NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont. - This past weekend (Feb. 9-11), the Guelph Gryphons varsity squash teams made their way to the White Oaks Resort in Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario to compete in the 2024 OUA Squash Championships, hosted by the Western Mustangs. For both the U of G men's and women's teams the tournemnt concluded with 6th-place finishes after posting records of 2-3 throughout the weekend.
The Gryphon men opened the tournament with a strong performance against the McMaster Marauders which saw the U of G team capture a 5-1 victory.
In their second match the team fell to the defending, and eventual champion, Western Mustangs 7-0 before suffering an identical 7-0 loss to the Queen's Gaels to finish pool play with a 1-2 record. On Saturday (Feb. 10) the Gryphons would face off with the Ottawa Gee-Gees in a consolation semifinal, where they would take a 5-2 victory to set up a 5th-place match against the Brock Badgers. In their final match of the weekend the Gryphons fell to the Badgers 5-2 to solidify a 6th-place finish at the tournament. The weekend effort was led by a trio of Gryphons in
Matthew Armstrong,
Noah Crawford, and
Ishwak Singh Barmi who all finished the tournament with ratings above 5.0.
On the women's side, the Gryphons opened up the weekend with a 6-1 loss to the McMaster Marauders before falling to 0-2 in pool play with a 7-0 loss to the Western Mustangs. The U of G team would bounce back however, with an impressive 5-2 victory over the Brock Badgers. With a 1-2 record in pool play the Gryphons then faced off with the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the consolation semifinals where they would capture a dominant 6-1 win and set up a 5th-place match with the U of T Varsity Blues. In their final match of the weekend the Gryphons suffered a 7-0 loss to finish the championship tournament in 6th-place. The Gryphon women were led by
Sunshine Troup at the White Oaks resort, who finished the weekend with a rating of 4.33, the best on the team by nearly a full point.
At the conclusion of the championship tournament the Western Mustang men's team was crowned champions for the 40th consecutive year, while the Queen's Gaels earned their 9th straight banner on the women's side.
RESULTS
OUA Women's Major Award Winners & All-Stars
Major Award Winners
Most Valuable Player - Maddie O'Conner, Queen's Gaels
Rookie of the Year - Gabriella Waite, Queen's Gaels
Coach of the Year - Tom Panabaker, Western Mustangs
All-Stars
Maddie O'Conner, Queen's Gaels
Niki Shemirani, Waterloo Warriors
Keira Rawlins, Toronto Varsity Blues
Megha Bhatia, Ottawa Gee-Gees
Marlow Benson, Queen's Gaels
Alessia Ferris, Western Mustangs
OUA Men's Major Award Winners & All-Stars
Major Award Winners
Most Valuable Player - Sala Eltorgman, Western Mustangs
Rookie of the Year - Daniel Deverill, Western Mustangs
Coach of the Year - Chris Hanebury, Western Mustangs
All-Stars
Sala Eltorgman, Western Mustangs
Ali Shalaby, Toronto Varsity Blues
Dylan Deverill, Western Mustangs
Akasham Rajagopaul, Queen's Gaels
Tyson Schille, Brock Badgers
Will Harris, Toronto Varsity Blues
Final Team Standings
Women
GOLD - Queen's Gaels (5-0)
SILVER - Western Mustangs (4-1)
BRONZE - Waterloo Warriors (3-2)
4th - Toronto Varsity Blues (3-2)
5th - McMaster Marauders (2-3)
6th - Guelph Gryphons (2-3)
7th - Brock Badgers (1-4)
8th - Ottawa Gee-Gees (0-5)
Men
GOLD - Western Mustangs (5-0)
SILVER - Waterloo Warriors (3-2)
BRONZE - Toronto Varsity Blues (3-2)
4th - Queen's Gaels (3-2)
5th - Brock Badgers (3-2)
6th - Guelph Gryphons (2-3)
7th - Ottawa Gee-Gees (1-4)
8th - McMaster Marauders (0-5)
