They’ve been here before—now it’s time to take the next step.
Competing in the NWOSSAA finals today in Thunder Bay, the Muskie badminton brigade hopes to give their opposition a stiff dose of doubles trouble as the senior girls’ teams of Simone/Natalie Desjardins and Jen Lawson/Sarah Paterson try to smash their way to an all-Ontario berth.
The Desjardins sisters have tore up their opposition so far this season, going undefeated in the exhibition pre-season tournament here, the NorWOSSA qualifier in Atikokan, and then last Wednesday’s NorWOSSA showdown in Kenora, where they took home the gold medal with a perfect 5-0 mark.
“The strongest part of their game this year is that they know the doubles rotation so well,” noted Muskie senior coach Manami Alexander, referring to their strategy of playing side-by-side on defence, then switching to a front-and-back approach on offence.
“Many other girls at the senior level don’t know the rotation, and Simone and Natalie have been able to attack the sidelines well on other teams because of that.
“They know exactly what to do and where to place the bird,” Alexander added.
The plan before the season began was to have Simone, the elder of the siblings, compete in singles play, where she advanced all the way to the all-Ontarios last year before finishing third in her pool.
Meanwhile, Natalie, who along with Simone was still junior-aged coming into this season, was slated to play senior mixed doubles with Jason Pattison.
But all that changed when Pattison broke his wrist at the Fort Frances Badminton Club’s tournament here in late March.
“I thought teaming [the Desjardins sisters] together was the best way for them to go farther,” said Alexander. “When Jason went down, we had to start all over and try to maximize their strengths.
“Simone and Natalie have played doubles together before in Winnipeg,” Alexander added.
“Natalie actually wanted to stay in junior before the season started, but I saw how well Simone did in making it to all-Ontarios last year after moving up from junior to senior during the season, and I was convinced Natalie could do the same thing.”
The sisters of smash were on their game at the NorWOSSA finals last Wednesday, not dropping a single game while holding their opposition to a total of just 29 points in 12 games—a measly 2.42 average per game.
The Desjardins pitched a shutout against one Dryden Eagles squad (15-0, 15-0), then destroyed the other Dryden team 15-3, 15-2. They also clobbered Beaver Brae (Kenora) 15-1, 15-1 and pasted Atikokan 15-3, 15-1.
But while Alexander likes the possibility of the Desjardins advancing to the all-Ontarios in Milton on May 1-3, she’s not discounting the prospects of Lawson and Paterson.
The pair gave the Desjardins their toughest battle in Kenora last week, losing 15-9, 15-9, but were unbeatable the rest of the way to finish 4-1 and capture the silver medal as well as the second NWOSSAA berth.
“Jen and Sarah came within one point of making all-Ontarios last year,” noted Alexander. “They are older than Simone and Natalie, and have been playing together for a long time.
“If they play smart, they have a good chance to advance,” Alexander remarked. “They have impressed me with their strategy this year, and have been very good at spotting their opponents’ weaknesses quickly.”
Lawson and Paterson humbled both Dryden teams at the NorWOSSA finals last week (15-4, 15-3 and 15-2, 15-1) while also easily handling Atikokan 15-7, 15-4.
Then in a match that was a tale of two games, the pair struggled to beat Beaver Brae 17-14 in the first set before pulverizing the Kenora crew 15-0 in the second one.
Tracy Treflin nearly joined the doubles dynamos in Thunder Bay, but the first-year senior girls’ singles player was a victory away from making the top two—ending up with a 3-2 record and the bronze medal at Kenora last Wednesday.
Treflin swept Rae-Jeanne Brown (15-0, 15-3) and Lindsay Wilcox (15-10, 15-9), both of Atikokan, before rallying from one game down to nip Kristen Pekarchuk of St. Thomas Aquinas (Kenora) in their best-of-three battle (7-15, 15-11, and 15-10).
But with only the top two in each division advancing to NWOSSAA, a 2-0 loss to Kristen Green from Beaver Brae (15-0, 15-6) and a tight 2-1 defeat against Tanjou Lavers of Dryden (13-15, 15-10, 15-4) left Treflin on the outside looking in.
“Tracy totally surprised me,” lauded Alexander. “She moved very well behind the bird, controlled the bird well, and was also good at finding her opponents’ weak points and applying what she knew, which is difficult to do.
“She only found out at the last minute that she was too old to play junior this year,” Alexander added. “I think she played very well and very smart this season.”
Finally, the Muskie junior girls’ doubles pairing of Jacqie Hart and Kayla Shine were the objects of injury misfortune that limited them to a 1-4 record and a fifth-place showing at the NorWOSSA finals in Kenora last week.
“Jacqie was already fighting tendinitis in her forearm [suffered at the NorWOSSA qualifier],” said Alexander. “Then in their match against St. Thomas Aquinas, she rolled her ankle.
“It was hard for them to focus, with everything going wrong for them.”
Hart and Shine took the first game against St. Thomas Aquinas 15-12, but with Hart’s mobility limited because of her ankle problem, the Muskie duo couldn’t keep up the pace and dropped the next two games 15-13 and 15-6 to lose the match 2-1.
They also lost 2-0 decisions to Red Lake (game scores unavailable), Atikokan (15-1, 15-1) and Beaver Brae (15-1, 15-1), but managed to topple Rainy River 2-1 (15-13, 15-9).
“They didn’t give up, and I’m sure they’ll move up the standings next year,” Alexander said.
Fort Frances Times
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