There were a whole slew of notable newcomers to the group of gold medal winners at the SDSSAA Tennis Championships that played out last week – though one senses many will be back, for one more year, at least.

None of the defending title holders repeated, at least not in their previous category as 2022 Girls Singles winner Madison Hollohan opted to partner this spring with schoolmate Tanner Rollins, the St Charles Cardinals’ tandem claiming the mixed doubles crown with a 10-5 win over Adasyn Radey and Owen Pawluk of Lasalle.

Some of the new champs were returnees who came awfully close one year ago.

The Hollohan decision opened the door for 2022 finalists and multi-sport star Lauren Pineau (Lockerby Composite) to move up to the very top rung of the Girls Singles bracket, beating Jane Walker of Lo-Ellen Park 10-6 in the final.

And, as usual, graduations created some forced turnover in some divisions as an all-Horizon final last May featured four proud members of the Aigles family who have now moved on to post-secondary schooling, with the 2022 bronze medal winners filling in the gap this year.

“Last year, me and Madison (Smith) were supposed to partner up and then all of our friends (at Champlain) were supposed to partner up – but it didn’t quite work out,” noted 17 year-old grade 11 Requins Véronick Fortier, who teamed up with Smith to garner gold in Girls Doubles action with a 10-5 triumph over the Bishop Carter duo of C.J. Pardy and Danika Gray after taking bronze in their first shot at the event.

“Me and Madison ended up staying together, started practicing and really enjoyed it. We played a fair bit together in the summer last year.”

But, as is so often the case with those young athletes who get involved in pretty much every activity that their school has to offer, finding the time to devote to a singular pursuit is seldom easy.

“We got busy with soccer and other sports,” said Fortier. “I think we only attended two practices this year, so we were a little nervous going into the tournament.”

Thankfully, the base of on-court chemistry that was created twelve months ago had not disappeared as the Champlain pair under the tutelage of Mr. Bélanger and Mr. Alarie tapped into some elements of familiarity as they worked their way through the draw last week.

“With a team of just two of us, we have great communication – just because it’s a team of just two people,” said Fortier. “We were having fun with it and this is a sport that we were really enjoying, so it was nice that way.”

And for as much as other sports might pull them away from valuable practice time in tennis, there are almost always some cross-over skills that can still complement, from one endeavour to the next.

“I think volleyball played a huge part in helping me call for the ball and serve receive,” said Fortier. “And even when Madison was receiving, I would try and help out, let her know: it’s good, it’s good – just stuff like that.”

By contrast, the Boys Doubles championship pair from Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School – Jonah Poxleitner (grade 11) and Stephen Suorineni (grade 10) – could draw on hours and hours of time spent at the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre in recent years, their knowledge of those high-schoolers who feature an absolute passion for the sport helping to sway their pathway towards doubles play.

“It was in part the fact that most of the really competitive people migrate to singles that helped us decide to go doubles,” said Poxleitner, effectively paying homage to the talented trio of Noah Bulbring (gold – Lo-Ellen), Olivier de la Riva (silver – Collège Notre Dame) and Luka Janicijevic (bronze – Lasalle) who mounted the podium on Thursday.

“Both Stephen and I thought it would be tough to beat the top players,” continued Poxleitner. “We kind of came up with this idea that if we worked together in boys doubles, that maybe we could win in Sudbury and go to NOSSA – and maybe even OFSAA, if we try hard enough.”

Good plan.

The Knights’ representatives knocked off Anthony Bertrand and Julien Jobin of Bishop Carter in the final (10-4), though the score stood at 6-4 about midway through the set. “They said they hardly ever played (tennis), but you could tell they were extremely athletic,” said Poxleitner.

“They were hitting every ball, smashing everywhere. We were not used to playing against players like that. It was weird and took some time to get used to it – but as time went on, we figured out ways to get around that.”

In fact, it was the knowledge that they have gained as part of the High Performance program with the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre that helped the eventual champions overcome in the end. “Ever since a young age, I’ve always loved tennis; however, I didn’t really get into it until about a year ago when I joined what is called a “Green Ball” program at SITC,” said Poxleitner.

The experience would show in the end.

“I went in not really knowing what to expect – but we felt pretty confident after the first couple of matches,” said Poxleitner. “One of our best assets is our serve, just because we had so much practice with it that other teams didn’t have.”

That was negated in the Boys Singles final, a battle to the end as Noah Bulbring, who recently captured an OTA (Ontario Tennis Association) tournament hosted in Sudbury outlasted 2022 SDSSAA champion Olivier de la Riva, 10-8, in a very well-played tête a tête.

Following are the top five finishers in each of the five categories as those who have qualified prepare to attend the NOSSA playdowns on Manitoulin Island on Friday:

Boys Singles
1st - Noah Bulbring – Lo-Ellen Park
2nd – Olivier de la Riva – Notre-Dame
3rd – Luka Janicijevic – Lasalle
4th – Julien Levac – St Charles College
5th – Mauro Cusinato – St Benedict
5th – Caleb Lalonde – Champlain

Girls Singles
1st – Lauren Pineau – Lockerby
2nd – Jane Walker – Lo-Ellen Park
3rd – Kavya Nalla – Lo-Ellen Park
4th – Kiersten Anderson – Lo-Ellen Park
5th – Ava St Jacques – St Benedict
5th – Justine Toner – Notre-Dame

Boys Doubles
1st – Jonah Poxleitner/Stephen Suorineni – Lo-Ellen Park
2nd – Anthony Bertrand/Julien Jobin – Bishop Carter
3rd – Blake Rosener/Cole Rosener – St Charles College
4th – Sebastien Smith/Dominic Gionet – Notre-Dame
5th – Jack Gouchie/Joe Gouchie – St Charles College
5th – Mathieu Guillet/Justin Barriault – Horizon

Girls Doubles
1st – Véronick Fortier/Madison Smith – Champlain
2nd – C.J. Pardy/Danika Gray – Bishop Carter
3rd – Payton Stos/Carley Sobiera – Lively
4th – Madison Huntington/Salma Ibrahim – Lo-Ellen Park
5th – Olivia Nicholls/Abby Laurin – Champlain
5th – Mia Toner/Amy Flores – Sacré-Coeur

Mixed Doubles
1st – Madison Hollohan/Tanner Rollins – St Charles College
2nd – Adasyn Radey/Owen Pawluk – Lasalle
3rd – Bailey Raymond/Mateo Beites – Notre-Dame
4th – Zoe Rienguette/Ethan Morris – St Charles College
5th – Minori Fukushiro/Ethan Lamothe – St Charles College
5th – Owen Dobson/Kalyani Nair – Lo-Ellen Park