Day 1 | After a 6 am rendezvous at our tennis club, we departed for the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal for the eight o'clock ferry sailing to Swartz Bay. Some of us took the 7:45 am ferry to Duke Point and arrived on the Island about 15 minutes later than the Swartz Bay group. The first group travelled south after unloading at Duke Point, while the second group travelled north from Swartz Bay. Both groups met up at the South Cowichan Lawn Tennis Club within 5 minutes of each other.
Daniel Shen was the first up to play his match at 11:00 a.m. He scored an easy 6-3, 6-1 win over Piers Zdan of Victoria for his under 18 singles match. Three more matches followed at about 11:30 a.m. Daniel’s younger sibling, Steven beat out Richie Hall of Nanaimo in a three-setter under 16 singles match. After losing the first set 6-1, he came through the next two sets 6-1, 6-4 to move into the second round. The first of the Baumann siblings, William was next to play. He romped through his first match with ease, beating Victoria's Matija Ivaz 6-1, 6-2 in his under 16 singles event. Tyron Wheatley became the first member of our team to not make it to the next round, losing 6-4, 6-0 in his under 18 singles to Aiden Eakins of Mills Bay. He would redeemed himself later in the day by winning his consolation draw match 6-4, 6-4 over Ryan Hall of Bellevue, Washington.
At noon, Mark Lintott started his first round match against John Shukin who was almost twice as tall as him. He went down to the Victorian native 6-1, 6-0. Daniel Shen returned to the grass court less than an hour after his finished his first match to play his under 16 singles match. He moved on quickly to the next round when he disposed of Victoria's Sam Smyth, 6-2, 6-3. A few minutes later after Daniel got his second match underway, Alex Baumann’s turn on the grass court proved victorious when he swept by Nyles Moisson of Mills Bay 6-1, 6-0 to move into the next round of his under 14 event. Ilya Tihanenoks was next to compete in the under 18 singles event at 2 p.m. He seemed a little off focus throughout his match and struggled for a three sets victory. He advanced to next round over Benedict Rudgley of Salt Spring Island in a 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 score. Daniel got back on the grass for this third match of the day. This time lady luck was not on his side. He went down to Socrates Bousbouras 6-2, 6-2 in his under 16 event.
Our girls were the last to compete in the singles rounds. Meagen Lens was first up at 4:30 in the afternoon, but her first time on grass was too much for her. She lost 6-0, 6-2 to the local girl Laura Granger. Nicola Brevik was next to play. She has to compete against her fellow club member Claudia Longauer in the first round of the under 18 event. Brevik easily moved on with a 6-1, 6-1 win. Stefanie Baumann was last to finish her match for the day. She has her hands full with Victoria's Camille Hemond. Both girls battled out for 2 hours and 45 minutes in the heat. Victory came our way when Baumann fought back from 2-5 down in the third and saved three match points along the way to win 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
In between all these singles matches, some girls doubles matches were played prior to their singles matches. Lens and Longauer teamed up but lost in an easy score line to Laura Burns and Sydney Delaney. Baumann and Brevik partnership won the first set 6-2 but could not extend their lead any further and lost in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. Both these girls doubles are round-robin matches, so more doubles matches will follow. Everyone returned to their air-conditioned rooms at the local motel in downtown Duncan, very much relief to be away from the scorching heat wave that has been around for the last week and a half.
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