Senior high school tennis champs crowned

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The first step in Ashton and Bennett Spivak’s plan for tennis success got off the ground on Wednesday at the Dufferin Tennis Club.

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The Brantford Collegiate Institute brothers captured the Athletic Association of Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk senior boys doubles championship and now it’s on to CWOSSA.

It was from his experience at the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association championship last spring that Ashton came up with an idea to form a partnership with his brother, hoping they could have greater success than what he did as a singles player.

“I played singles last year at CWOSSA and the competition was insane,” said Ashton, who won the AABHN singles title in Grades 10 and 12.

“I got destroyed every single point. They were doing spin serves. It was nothing I had ever seen before.

“I saw the boys doubles team from Paris last year, they did well at CWOSSA, I thought maybe I’d try doubles with Bennett and see how that goes.”

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While the two fifth-year students have never played competitive tennis as a team, they have experience working with each other in a different sport.

“We play football together, he’s the quarterback and I’m the receiver, so we have chemistry,” said Bennett.

That chemistry carried over to the tennis court as the brothers went undefeated to capture the AABHN championship.

“Honestly, we were just having fun,” Ashton said. “It was new playing with Bennett and we didn’t get mad at each other so that was awesome.”

The next step in their plan is making a splash at CWOSSA on Oct. 28 at Greystone Racquet Club in Waterloo.

“Paris came third last year and we beat Paris today, the same team, so we’ll see,” said Bennett.

BOYS SINGLES

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Carson Burr made a successful debut in boys singles at the AABHN tennis championship.

Although Burr is in Grade 12 at Paris District High School, his only other appearance at the AABHN tennis championship was in Grade 9 when he won the boys doubles title.

After playing quite a bit over the past three years, he decided to challenge himself by switching divisions.

“My skill level has improved,” he said of what made him decide to try boys singles.

“I played throughout the past three summers and practiced quite a bit in Paris.”

Burr went undefeated to capture the championship but he said it wasn’t easy.

“It was really good,” he said of the competition. “It’s usually always good competition in boys singles. I had some good matches.”

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Burr, who thanked his coaches,  is looking forward to experiencing CWOSSA in Waterloo at the end of the month.

“It’s my first time going to CWOSSA so I want to get there and see what the competition is like and I’ll go from there,” he said when asked his goal at the tournament.

“I’m going to try to win but I’m happy to get there.”

GIRLS SINGLES

Although Harper North’s dad Tony has coached tennis at Paris District High School in the past and her brother Cale has played for the Panthers, it wasn’t until this year that Harper decided to give the sport a shot.

Playing in the AABHN girls singles division, North went undefeated to capture the title.

“I played rugby last year and I was like, ‘I love sports,’” she answered when asked why she started tennis in Grade 11 and not sooner.

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“With COVID I stopped doing everything so I forgot how fun it was. This year I decided to try everything. I’m doing cross-country and tennis and I’ll do badminton and rugby.”

Without ever having played at the high school level, her expectations were low.

“I didn’t think I was going to do well at all,” she said.

“When I’m at practice, (teammate) Carson Burr, he’s incredible. When I’m playing with him I barely get it over the net. (Wednesday) was a pleasant surprise.”

North now advances to CWOSSA later this month in Waterloo and she won’t be putting any extra pressure on herself.

“I want to have fun,” she said. “I do sports for fun. I’m not really competitive.”

GIRLS DOUBLES

Taylor Legg and Cassie Colling are the perfect example of the saying, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

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After capturing the AABHN girls doubles tennis championship last year, the pair repeated their success on Wednesday at Dufferin.

The two fifth-year students at North Park Collegiate are quite familiar with each other.

“We have been friends since elementary school so we’ve always had a really good connection,” Legg explained.

“I know how to work around what she’s having difficulties with and she can work around what I’m having difficulties with. We’re always there for each other.”

That type of teamwork led to outstanding play and an undefeated record at the championship.

“I think we played great,” Colling said.

“We had a rough start in a couple of our games but we were able to reset and go on with a new game.”

As defending champions, Legg and Colling were gunning for another title but there was one match in particular they focused on.

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“The BCI girls doubles, Cameron (Spivak) and Emma (Snyder), that was our main competition this year so we really practiced to beat them,” Legg said.

“We were happy to come out on top.”

Now it’s on to CWOSSA later this month in Waterloo where the duo is hoping to better their result from last season.

“I’m super excited,” Colling said. “Last year we came third so I’m hoping we can beat that.”

MIXED DOUBLES

St. John’s College students Emily Smith and Christian Ligori transferred their chemistry off the court into an AABHN mixed doubles tennis championship.

Smith, who is in Grade 12, and Ligori, who is in Grade 11, are dating and although neither had played tennis at the high school level before, they thought it would be fun to give it a try.

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“I thought it would be cool to join and so I asked him,” said Smith.

“And I wanted to play with her,” Ligori added.

In reality, with very little tennis experience, the two were happy to make the SJC team. So when it came time for the AABHN tournament, their expectations were pretty low.

“We thought we would lose every game,” Smith said. “Our first game was tight but after that we just took it.”

Anyone who has been in a relationship knows it isn’t always easy and it was the same on the tennis court. Ligori said it was key to keep calm.

“Sometimes we got mad but we reminded each other to calm down and then it was good,” he said. “That was a big thing, to remind each other to calm down.”

Smith said that when they won, it was a great feeling.

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“When you’re not expecting something, it’s really exciting,” she said. ”It feels really good.”

The two are looking forward to playing indoors at CWOSSA later this month in Waterloo. They know the competition will be difficult but they’ll just take things as they come.

“Our goal is to go in with an open mind,” Smith said.

“It’s the same as here,” added Ligori. “Hopefully we’re pleasantly surprised.”

In a tight race for the team championship, PDHS came out on top with 54 points. Paris was followed by NPC (51), SJC (48), Assumption College and BCI (47), Pauline Johnson Collegiate (23) and McKinnon Park Secondary School (7).