The Golden Bears & Pandas Tennis teams will be the first to get a shot at a national title this calendar year, as they take on the countries best at the Tennis Canada University Tennis Championships this weekend.

The event, which replaces the 2020 National Championship which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, will take place October 1-3 at the Aviva Centre in Toronto, Ontario. 

The Bears will battle the Western Mustangs in the Semifinal on Saturday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. MT, while the defending champion Pandas will take on the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. MST. 
 

LIVE SCORES

"The players have been waiting a long time to compete, so there is lots of excitement in competing for a National Championship in this weekend," said Bears & Pandas head coach Russ Sluchinski. "The weather in Edmonton has been great through September, so we have been able to get a lot of practice in outdoors which should help us when we play outdoors in Toronto"

The Pandas captured the most recent national championship in 2019, defeating the Western Mustangs in the national final to complete an undefeated season. Of the group heading to Toronto this weekend, three returning athletes helped lead the Pandas to a 2019 championship, including Sam Chapman, Katie Johnson & Alina Jurca. 

The Pandas were also undefeated in 2019-20 before the 2020 Championship was cancelled. The 2018 National Final agaisnt Montreal marked the last time the Alberta women lost a team competition. 

The Bears, meanwhile, are looking for their first national title since 2016. Like the Pandas, they will be taking a veteran team to Toronto, which features key athletes such as Kiran & Neel Phaterpekar, Ryan Townsend, and Connor Khademazad. 

"We are anticipating to be very competitive as both our Men's and Women's teams will have a good mix of veteran's and strong new recruits," concluded Sluchinski. 

TOURNAMENT DRAW

WOMEN'S

Friday, October 1
Semifinal #1 - Alberta vs Toronto - 12:30 p.m. MT
Semifinal #2 - Laval vs Western - 12:30 p.m. MT

Saturday, October 2
National Final - 7:00 a.m. MT
Bronze Medal Match - 7:00 a.m. MT

MEN'S

Saturday, October 2
Semifinal #1 - Laval vs Toronto - 12:30 p.m. MT
Semifinal #2 - Alberta vs Western - 12:30 p.m. MT

Sunday, October 3
National Final - 7:00 a.m. MT
Bronze Medal Match - 7:00 a.m. MT

Pandas Roster
Samantha Chapman
Jena Cheng
Alex Jewitt 
Katie Johnson
Alina Jurca
Jessica Kreutz
Emma Rutherford 

Coaches:
Ivan Quintero
Kyle Sluchinski 
Russ Sluchinski 
Manager: Andrea Jones

Golden Bears Roster
Connor Khademazad 
Jared Maclean
Jun Makita
Ethan Oboniye
Zack Perala
Kiran Phaterpekar 
Neel Phaterpekar 
Kyle Sluchinski 
Ryan Townsend

Coaches
Jordan Sluchinski
Ivan Quintero
Russ Sluchinski
Manager: Andrea Jones