Sudbury cleans up at NOSSA badminton

Sudbury will be well represented, once again, at the 2015 OFSAA Badminton Championships at the end of the month. As for the three returnees and five first time qualifiers, they are in for quite a treat.

This year, all Ontario high school playdowns are taking place in Markham, from April 30th to May 2nd, at the Atos Markham Pan Am Centre, the same venue that will host the badminton tournament at this summer's Pan American Games in Toronto.

Earning a bronze medal in "C" division play last year, Michelle Kozlowskyj of Sacré-Coeur is back once again, defeating Urmilla Bhattacharyya of Widdifield in the NOSSA final on Saturday at St Benedict Catholic Secondary School in Sudbury.

The St Benedict senior mixed tandem of Emmalee Barbeau and Will Agnihotri came up one win short of duplicating Kozlowskyj's feat last spring, placing fourth in the "C" grouping.

It was, as it is for most, a learning experience the first time around. "We played really well at OFSAA last year, so hopefully we'll be able to do it this year as well," said Barbeau.

"All the players there are amazing, it was very different. In Northern Ontario, we know all the competition." In fact, the Bears duo defeated the Collège Notre-Dame sibling pairing of Alex and Bryanne Rheault to capture both the SDSSAA and NOSSA banners, continuing to try and perfect their game.

"We tried to do more placement, instead of doing stupid mistakes, like smashing and hitting the net, for example," said Barbeau. "We were trying to hit it to the sides, or the spot between the girl and the guy, which is tough to return."

Given that the top two in all five of the senior division brackets qualify for OFSAA, the mixed doubles final represented a Sudbury sweep. In his first year of senior level play, Sebastien Stefankow of Macdonald-Cartier will make the trip south, despite having lost in the men's singles final, falling to Wil Hausenblas of Elliot Lake.

Rounding out the local contingent are Blake Wisniewski and Bradley Sheppard of Lockerby, second place finishers in the Senior Boys Doubles competition. While the juniors are a year away from targetting an OFSAA berth, Stephanie Smuland and Cameron Duff of Confederation served notice that they will be a team to watch in 2016, beating Justin Lamontagne and Kaitlyn Thibault of Sacré-Coeur in another all-Sudbury championship encounter.

Both Smuland and Duff competed in singles as midgets, with both learning quickly some of the key nuances that come with doubles play. "You have to make sure that you don't get angry or upset, because you tend to get your partner upset," said Duff.

"We have to stay positive, work together, and make sure to take our time on serves." In this regard, both of the Chargers are on the same page. "You have to have some kind of chemistry with your partner, to be able to work well together, and to know your job," added Smuland.

Chatting after winning their first two games on Friday, before stretching their win streak to four games on Saturday, the Confederation duo knew that gradual progression was important.

"I know for the first game, I was a little bit jittery and maybe he (Duff) was too, first game at NOSSA nerves," noted Smuland. "Hopefully as we move up, we'll keep playing better and better." And that they did.

Likewise for A.J. Martell of Sacré-Coeur, who took home gold in Junior Boys Singles, along with Kalie Rheault of CND (1st in Midget Girls Singles), and Luc Demers and Marcus Valtonen of Sacré-Coeur (1st in Midget Boys Doubles).

The remaining SDSSAA representatives who finished in the top three in their division were:

Senior Division
Skylar Cooke - Lockerby (3rd - Boys Singles)

Junior Division
Justin Levert - Sacré-Coeur (3rd - Boys Singles)
Gracen Lacko - Lo-Ellen (3rd - Girls Singles)
Braedan Tulini/Jack Wisniewski (3rd - Boys Doubles)

Midget Division
Patrick Thom - St Benedict (3rd - Boys Singles)