Lions women set to defend CUTC title this weekend in Montreal

The York University Lions women's tennis team will look to defend their 2015 championships title this weekend (July 28-30) when they travel to Montreal to compete in the 2016 Canadian University Tennis Championships (CUTC).

The Lions qualified for the national championships by winning the OUA championships silver medal in the 2015 season. York will compete against the McGill Martlets, Alberta Pandas and the defending OUA champion Montreal Carabins in the four team tournament. A budding rivalry seems to be developing between the Lions and the Carabins, as the two teams have finished as the top two teams in the OUA championships the last two seasons. In 2014, the Lions won the OUA women's title with the Carabins finishing in second place, while last year the Carabins upset the undefeated Lions in the OUA final.

The Lions will begin play on Thursday, July 28 against McGill in the semi-finals at Parc de la Vérendrye. The winner will play for the championship at Uniprix Stadium on Saturday, July 30 against either Alberta or Montreal.

"We have a young team this year," said Lions head coach Chris Field. "We lost our top three players from last years championships team but we showed great maturity in the OUA regular season and surprised with an undefeated record. To earn a spot and be returning to the championship to defend our title is a great team accomplishment and we're excited for the challenge."

Leading the way for the Lions is Nikki Carnovale (Woodbridge, Ont.), who will play out of the top singles spot. Carnovale had an outstanding 2015 season, as she won both the OUA player of the year and York rookie of the awards. She'll be competing in her first university tennis championships and will be joined by 2015 OUA all-star Ivana Banovic (Oshawa, Ont.), and 2014 OUA rookie of the year Eugnenie Lim Ah Tock (Floreal, Mauritius) in the second and third singles spots respectively.

Also on the singles roster for the Lions are national championships rookie Heather Hills (Markham, Ont.), and Isabella Baston (Toronto) and Julia Khalilova (Etobicoke, Ont.), who both helped the Lions to the gold medal last year.

Doubles specialist Elizabeth Branopolski (Maple, Ont.) will play out of the top doubles spot with either Baston or Lions veteran Jelena Grkovic (Maple, Ont.), while Carnovale and Lim Ah Tock will team up in the second doubles spot and Hills and Khalilova will be paired in the third spot.

The women's CUTC is being held in conjunction with the women's draw of the WTA's Rogers Cup at Uniprix Stadium in Montreal. The men's draw for both events are taking place this week at the Aviva Centre on the York campus. The Lions 2016 OUA season will begin at home on September 18 against the Western Mustangs. 

Source: York Lions