Joey Payeur
Anika Alexander took her opponents to court but came away guilty of overconfidence in her own mind.
The Fort Frances native captured the bronze medal in the women’s Open division with a 3-2 record at the 2017 Harrow Canadian University and College Championships held March 3-5 in Waterloo.
Alexander, representing the Queen’s Golden Gaels (Kingston), ran smack dab into eventual champion Erin Roberts from the Calgary Dinosaurs in her very first match.
That didn’t have her concerned at the time–although she now knows it should have after losing 3-1 (12-10, 5-11, 11-7, and 11-6).
“For this match, I went in it with the wrong attitude,” Alexander admitted.
“I played this girl last year and beat her 3-0 at a tournament, and thought I wouldn’t have too many problems playing her,” she noted.
“As we played the first game, I was hitting the ball way too hard and without much logic.
“I sometimes get super-excited and nervous, and take a while to settle into a good pace and rhythm,” Alexander added.
“But she eventually just caught on and knew exactly what to do and how to beat me.
“I kept hitting it hard and trying to hit winners when all I had to do was slow it down and play smart, not just whacking it,” she explained.
“I was the one making the mistakes.”
Alexander put that setback behind her quickly to down Andrea Chaves from the Brock Badgers 3-1 (8-11, 13-11, 11-6, and 11-3) and then Charlotte Copas of the host Waterloo Warriors 3-1 (11-6, 11-8, 9-11, and 11-9).
“After losing that match on the first day, I felt a little discouraged,” she conceded.
“But after whining for about two minutes, I told myself, ‘Well, second place is now the new goal!’
“So I was way more pumped to play the next two girls,” she noted.
“[Those] two matches were definitely way better played than my very first match.”
Alexander then tried to keep the roll going against defending champion, top seed, and Golden Gaels’ teammate Alison Richmond.
The two battled toe-to-toe over five gruelling games, with Richmond getting the lead twice with 11-5 wins in Games 1 and 3–only to have Alexander fight back each time to win Game 2 (11-8) and Game 4 (11-5).
In the fifth-and-deciding game, the turning point came on an extended point that severely cut into Alexander’s oxygen intake.
“It was one silly rally in the fifth where she ran me around the court to the point where I couldn’t catch my breath,” she recalled.
“But I had to continue to play because of the rules, so I lost the next crucial three points of the game.
“Then it was already match ball at 10-5 and then when I finally caught my breath, it was too late.
“I won the next two points, but she just had to win one more point to win it all and she did,” Alexander said.
“I was happy I could get to five games with her, but at the same time I was slightly bummed,” she added.
“Knowing it could have been anyone’s match definitely made me feel better, though.”
Alexander then swept another Gaels’ teammate, Nora Kamal, 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, and 13-11) in her final match of the tournament.
“I am pretty pleased with my results,” Alexander said.
“My goal heading into this tournament was to win so I was a little disappointed,” she acknowledged.
“This being said, finishing with a bronze medal still felt pretty good.
“All five matches that I played were all difficult,” she stressed. “There were no easy wins whatsoever.
“The competition level was very high in my division.”
Alexander was most happy with her placement of the ball and shot selection during the tournament, but said keeping her mental game sharp was her biggest focus coming in.
“I have a tendency to lose focus on court–especially if I’m down a couple of points,” she noted.
“I start getting frustrated and whack the ball wherever without even thinking.
“So a big thing [that] weekend was I wanted to work on strengthening my mental game and keeping it consistent because if I’m calm and relaxed, I can think better and play better squash,” she reasoned.
“My biggest difficulty is when I can’t keep this consistency, lose focus, and hit bad shots,” Alexander said.
“Then it becomes very hard to bounce back from losing so many of those points.”
Alexander has one last tournament this season in Kingston, then will turn her attention to an intense off-season training program to get ready for what lies ahead.
“I’d like to play more squash next year–I really miss competing all the time,” she remarked.
“So I’ll train harder now and play more tournaments, too.”
