Five members of the Yorkton Pirates Tennis Club took to the road to compete at the Provincial Indoor Open at Saskatoon’s Lakewood Indoor Tennis Centre from April 23-26.
Young local tennis stars Ben and Isaac Lortie, as well as tennis veterans David Bella, Ross Green and Blaine Stoll all competed at the tournament with the team of Ben Lortie and David Bella putting together a strong couple of matches in the Men’s Doubles 4.5 Division, dropping Kolya and Robert Sidloski in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, in the first round before handing James Nataraj and Shawn Nomani a straight sets defeat in the semi-finals 6-4, 6-4.
Unfortunately the 13-year-old Lortie and Bella could not repeat their straight sets success in the final round, falling to Alex Fornal-Gollop and Mark Harrison 1-6, 1-6.
But while the defeat in the championship final stings, the young Lortie still believes he and his partner put forth a strong effort all tournament long. “We played really well,” offered Ben Lortie, adding that he and Bella have had previous opportunities to play alongside one another in the past. “We had played together for a couple of tournaments but to win silver is outstanding and I was surprised with our results.
“I definitely did not expect that we would go that far.”
Both Ben Lortie and Bella also found some success in the Men’s Singles 4.5 division with both marching all the way to the quarterfinals before bowing out. Lortie knocked off adult players Clinton Pigott (6-0, 6-0) and Dwayne Chobanik (6-1, 6-4) in straight sets before being eliminated by Alex Chavez 4-6, 1-6.
Meanwhile Bella, who was seeded third overall in the 4.5 division, picked up a first round bye before downing Allana Priestner 6-3, 6-1, to move on to the quarterfinals where he fell in straight sets to the eventual tournament champion Landon Grubb 1-6, 6-7.
11-year-old Isaac Lortie also had a good showing at the adult tournament in Saskatoon. The younger Lortie sibling made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Men’s Singles 3.5 Division, knocking off sixth ranked Miguel Rua in his first match 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 before dropping fourth seeded Fred Phillips 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Sadly his luck ran out in the semi-finals where he lost to Devan Bernard My Trischuk 1-6, 7-6, 0-6.
But despite the loss, Isaac Lortie said that he felt good with how he competed, especially since he was playing against people sometimes 20 years older than him. “It’s a good feeling knowing that they’re older than me but I am beating them,” said a smiling Isaac. “They hit harder than most people I play so to beat some of them felt good.”
The younger Lortie also competed in the Men’s Doubles 3.5 Division with out-of-towner William Preciado, losing to Nairen Bradley-Duncan and Steven Squair 2-6, 6-7 in the first round to fall to the consolation side.
Lortie and Preciado took down the team of Yuchen Gao and Ruila Xu 6-2, 6-1, in the first round of the consolation side before being granted the walkover victory over the team of Dustin Allen Lee and Fred Phillips in the consolation final.
Ross Green teamed up with Anne Robinson in the XD Open division but did not find much luck, losing to second ranked Tim Makahoniuk and Katie Ormerod 1-6, 4-6, before falling to Robert Carey and Leslie Sullivan in the consolation round 0-6, 2-6.
Green had a little bit more success with fellow Yorkton tennis player Blaine Stoll in the Men’s Doubles division, dropping Ken Luchka and James Shipma 6-4, 6-3, before bowing out to James Nataraj and Shawn Nomani 1-6, 3-6.
Ben Lortie, acting as club spokesman for the tournament, felt that everyone genuinely enjoyed the tournament and that everyone played to their potential. “It was a good experience for everybody. I was actually kind of surprised with everyone’s results,” mentioned Lortie. “We had a couple of good wins, some tough losses but overall I think everyone played their best tennis at the right time.”
Indoor project
The Yorkton Pirates Tennis Club got some good news last week as the City of Yorkton and the Gallagher Centre have agreed to put up three indoor tennis courts in the Nexera Flexihall this summer.
The club has received $5000.00 (CAD) from the 1989 Jeux Canada Games Foundation and are hoping to raise another two thousand dollars through donations and fees. Anyone wishing to donate can contact the Yorkton Pirates Tennis Club via their Facebook page Yorkton Pirates Tennis Club.
The project is set to be finished by September.
