Joey Payeur
The young gun saw the old sharpshooter reloading and decided to unload his entire arsenal.
Kenora’s Jordan Olsen derailed a comeback bid by four-time champion Ben Andrusco (Fort Frances) on Sunday—winning 3-1 (11-9, 13-11, 8-11, and 11-9) to capture the men’s ‘A’ Open division of the annual La Place Rendez-Vous squash tournament here.
The 20-year-old Olsen seemed to have the 43-year-old Andrusco on the run early.
But when the wily veteran used a six-point run in the third game to extend the best-of-five match, the first-time titleist figured he had best finish things off quickly.
“I needed those first two games and I certainly didn’t want it going to a fifth game,” Olsen grinned.
“I was out of gas and [Andrusco] was starting to go pretty good,” he noted.
Andrusco led 4-2 early in the fourth thanks to Olsen hitting the tin three times.
But Olsen started using change-of-pace shots to stroke winners all over the court to go up 6-4 and he never lost the lead again.
Andrusco stayed close and pulled to within 10-9 when Olsen hit the tin on back-to-back points after he made an amazing save off the back wall on the previous rally to set up match point.
Olsen put the hammer down, however, putting Andrusco on the defensive the whole final point before the latter dumped a shot into the tin to close it out.
“He gets to a lot of balls,” Andrusco said of Olsen.
“That’s kind of my style, too, but he beat me at my own game,” he noted.
“In the third game, I was keeping it to his backhand because he’s got too good a forehand, so I was just waiting for him to make mistakes,” Andrusco added.
Olsen, who missed the Vous tourney the past two years, was quick to confirm he’ll be back next year to defend his crown.
“I’m glad I came back to this tournament,” he remarked.
“It’s an awesome tournament and a lot of good fun.”
In the men’s ‘A’ Open third-place match, Adam Clarke (Sioux Lookout) edged Thunder Bay’s Johnny Zajac 3-2.
The men’s ‘A’ division was the domain of Kenora’s Eric Wetendorf, who downed Gerson Agustin (Sioux Lookout) 3-1 in the final.
Shawn Brady (Fort Frances) beat Randy Wilson (Sioux Lookout) in the third-place match.
Angel McCormack topped the men’s ‘B’ division by blanking fellow Fort Frances player Josh Councillor 3-0 in the final.
Another all-Fort confrontation in the third-place game saw Dave Schwartz down Al Christiansen 3-1.
The men’s ‘C’ division saw more locals trading shots as Alex Bruyere topped Jeff Wright 3-1 to take the crown.
James Woods nipped fellow local Chase Badiuk 3-2 in the third-place match.
That division also featured a fifth-place game, with saw Andreas Asmus (Sioux Lookout) earn a 3-1 win over local Scott Basaraba.
Muskie football players Byron Stewart and Bryce Gilbert squared off in the men’s ‘D’ division final, with Stewart prevailing 3-0.
Local Jake Dokuchie beat Erik Werner (Thunder Bay) in the third-place match.
Mary-Beth Tkachuk carried the day in the ladies’ ‘B’ division winning all three of her matches in the round-robin format to finish with nine points.
Locals Nikki Bagacki and Marita Matias tied for second with six each.
In the ladies’ ‘C’ division, local Anna Schwartz beat all three of her round-robin opponents to top the group with nine points.
Jasmine Petch (Thunder Bay) was runner-up with six.
The Junior ‘A’ division belonged to Peyton Avis (Fort Frances), whose 11 points in his four round-robin matches was tops.
Local Owen Riches was second with nine points, followed by Shannon Bird in third with eight.
Finally, Madison Morrison topped the Junior ‘B’ division—sweeping her three opponents to collect nine points.
Parker Allen picked up six points to finish second while Samantha Hammond was third with five.
