Joey Payeur
All early signs point to it being a boffo season for the Muskie badminton brigade.
The black-and-gold stood tall on top of four different divisions at the lone exhibition tournament of their NorWOSSA season, which continues today back in Atikokan with the qualifier event.
The top three in each division today will advance to the NorWOSSA finals next Wednesday in Kenora, with the top two finishers in each one then heading to the NWOSSAA finals April 19 in Wawa.
The Muskies are a threat to be very well-represented come next week based on their exhibition performances.
“Overall, I am pleased with how the team performed,” said coach Brian Church.
“As expected, the students with some club background fared better than those without,” he noted.
Aaron Bujold, the two-time defending NorWOSSA senior boys’ singles champ, is off to another fast start–taking first place in Atikokan with a 4-0 record.
The only player to come close to beating him came really close, with Jackson Arpin of the Rainy River Owls pushing Bujold to the limit before the Muskie veteran nailed down a 22-20 victory.
“This is the closest [Arpin] has come to beating [Bujold],” said Church.
Muskie Michaela Putzer ruled the junior girls’ singles division, going 5-0 while keeping all but one of her opponents (Destinee Lafond of the Atikokan Voyageurs) to eight points or less.
“Michaela stood out as the strongest girl in the field,” lauded Church.
Muskie Isabella Ward place third in that same division with a 4-1 mark, falling only to Lafond 21-15.
Lauryn Marchant and Tayah Badiuk also blew through the field in junior girls’ doubles, going 4-0.
Their only tight match was a 21-19 win over runners-up Tia-Ray Alexiuk and Charlotte Arnold of Atikokan.
“Tayah and Lauryn have been unbeatable in practice and continued their streak in Atikokan,” noted Church.
Muskies Janissa Judson and Andrea Schram finished third in the division with a 3-1 record, losing only to Alexiuk and Arnold (21-10).
Dakota Jernberg captured first place in the junior boys’ singles division with a 5-1 record, with his only loss coming against Reece Chorney of the Owls by a 21-17 count.
Fellow Muskie Michael Vanderaa wound up seventh (1-5).
“The small gym in Atikokan has some very low-slung beams, which are an issue when attempting a high clear,” noted Church.
“This matchup will be one to watch as Chorney lost against both Atikokan players but beat Jernberg.”
Sam Westover took third in senior girls’ singles with a 1-2 record, with her lone win coming over teammate Caity Visser 21-12 after losing to Rainy River’s Bethany Sinninghe (21-7) and an unnamed Ignace Falcons’ opponent (21-12).
Visser placed fourth at 0-3.
Mykenzie Borger and Sam Berg teamed up to place third in senior girls’ doubles with a 3-2 record, losing only to division winners Hailey Manford and Alexis Paquette from Atikokan (21-14) and runners-up Faith King and Page Skrenski (21-12).
Muskies Cassidy McKinnon and Emma Cole were sixth in the group at 0-5.
Ryley Booth and Owen Riches took fourth place in junior boys’ doubles at 2-3.
“The team got off to a slow start, but were starting to click as the day progressed and hopefully they will be ready for competition [today],” said Church.
Other sixth-place finishes for the Muskies included the junior mixed doubles’ team of Nikki Wilson and Brody Lloy (0-5), as well as Kaden Nelson in senior boys’ singles (0-4) and senior mixed doubles (0-5), where he filled in to help Janelle Ball as her regular teammate, Parker Allen, was sidelined by illness.
Nelson usually plays senior boys’ doubles with James Gushulak, who was unable to make it to Atikokan for the exhibition matches.
The duo will reunite today in that division for the qualifier.
“There won’t be much time to work on improvements, but the teams know where they need work and will be striving to improve in the short time left to prepare,” noted Church.
As for the Owls last week in Atikokan, Sinninghe was the lone division champ with her victory in senior girls’ singles.
Second-place finishers included Arpin, Chorney, and Paige Stamler and Christian Tiboni (junior mixed doubles).
Third place was earned by Nick Vogan and Carlin Drennan (junior boys’ doubles).
There was an all-Owls tie for fourth place in senior mixed doubles between the tandems of Madison Brown and Tyler Hamm, along with Dakota Kreger and Theren George.
That same scenario repeated itself in senior girls’ doubles as Rainy River’s Regan Big George and Alia Big George shared fourth with teammates Cass Teeple and Calli Vandenbrand.
Coming in fifth for Rainy River was the junior boys’ doubles team of Taylor Neilson and Liam Pearson, as well as the junior mixed doubles pairing of McKenzie Jolicouer and Hayden Haw, junior girls’ singles player Aubree McQuaker, and the junior girls’ doubles duo of Lynelle Westover and Aynsley Williams.
Grabbing sixth spot in junior girls’ doubles was the Owls’ team of Lilly Blakeney and Kayla Michl.
Neilson, meanwhile, was seventh in junior girls’ singles as she also played in two divisions.
