With the all-glass court still set up at Jack Poole Plaza for Squash BC’s Community Days, the Vancouver Squash League (VSL) finished its season in an iconic way by playing several division finals with the beautiful view of the Vancouver harbour.
This year was quite unconventional for VSL with the season starting later than usual, multiple complications due to COVID-19, and many other challenges to overcome. Despite all these hurdles, VSL adapted on the fly and finished this unforgettable season on a well-deserved positive note. Squash BC thanks VSL Coordinator Richard Yendell and the entire VSL Organizing Committee for their incredible work to deliver the league this season. As well, we thank all Club Administrators, Team Captains, and of course players for their work and participation this year.
On both nights of the VSL Finals, June 6 and 7, Jack Poole Plaza was a full house, packed with supporters and players eager to soak in the atmosphere and cheer on their teams. The rest of the matchups were played at Vancouver Racquets Club (VRC), where there was another full house, lots of intense match play, and enthusiastic cheering.
VRC held the finals for Divisions 3, 4, 5 and 6, along with the Women’s Division 3 finals, while Jack Poole Plaza held finals for the Open Division, Division 1 and Division 2 along with the Women’s Division 2 finals. Both nights of finals were jam-packed with lots of action, and tough competition! Below is a summary of all the results from both venues:
GLASS COURT AT JACK POOLE PLAZA
Division 2:
The first matchup at the glass court was the Division 2 final, with Sandcastle facing off against Arbutus.
After all four matches went to four games, Sandcastle emerged victorious, winning three out of the four matches. The lone victory for Arbutus came from Daniel Tiwana over Tristan D’Cunha, while Sandcastle’s Navin Samarasinghe, Thomas Clark, and Matt Sullivan defeated Tam Do, David Cluff, and Tabs Singh, respectively.
Division 1:
The second matchup of the night was the Division 1 final between Evergreen Squash Club and YWCA. YWCA finished the night with three big wins, with Nick James, Philip Heming, and Andrew Clements all coming out victorious over their respective opponents Rayaan Kurji, Kyle Weatherby, and William Jensen. Evergreen’s Richard Wang coasted through his final matchup by default, but unfortunately it couldn’t help his team seal the victory.
Women’s Division 2:
The Women’s Division 2 finals kicked off on the second day of the finals, with Jericho Tennis Club facing off against the home-court Vancouver Racquets Club team. Jericho completed a clean sweep of the home team, with Stacy Hall defeating Pamela Lewis, Clara Min defeating Zhelin Bu, Dorota Budziszewska defeating Jennifer Arntorp, and Emily Christian defeating Kate Keetch.
Open Division:
The final matchup at Jack Poole Plaza came shortly after the Women’s Division 2 finals, with the Open Division teams at Vancouver Squash Academy and Jericho Tennis Club facing off.
Vancouver Squash Academy completed a clean sweep of the finals, winning all four games against Jericho Tennis Club. Marco Toriz-Caddo went unopposed to score the first win, while teammates Guillermo Cortes-Ortiz defeated Morgan Latremouille in three games, Joseph Toth defeated Grant Bergman in five games, and Jorge Renán Rodríguez López defeated Richard Yendell in three games.
VANCOUVER RACQUETS CLUB
The Division 6 matchup between Jericho Tennis Club and Vancouver Racquets Club started at the same time as the Division 5 matchup between River Club and Arbutus, making it an action-packed start to the night at VRC.
Division 6:
In the end, Jericho Tennis Club emerged victorious over VRC by winning three out of the four matches. Jericho’s team of Cynthia Yu, Athena Yu, and Alex Glass defeated opponents Mark Johnson, Matt Harper, and Randy Egan respectively, while Russell Street lost to Desmond Tam in four games, giving VRC their one victory.
Division 5:
In a similar fashion through hard-fought battles and some long games, River Club defeated Arbutus on the backs of victories from Rami Singh, Erick Ordonez, and Chris El-Araj over Ryan Cook, Garo Deyrmenjian, and Benjamin Dlin respectively, while Erick Ordonez played a second time, eventually losing to Myles Brown in four games.
Division 4:
Division 4’s final matchup included the home team Vancouver Racquets Club battling it out with Sport Central. In this case, home-court advantage seemed to help, as the VRC squad took home the victory by a score of three to one. Matias Herrero, Ricardo Sanchez, and Kevin Lore all defeated their opponents Justin Bye, Ken Windt, and Kevin LaHay respectively, while Sport Central earned a solo win thanks to the efforts of Kurt Woodman in his match against Scott Emslie.
Division 3:
To end off the night at VRC, the finals between Division 3’s Terminal City Club and Bonsor were underway once the Division 5 and 6 matches had been completed.
Terminal City Club threw out some great performances to defeat Bonsor by winning three out of four matches. Barry Gifford, Ian Humphries, and Adam Melnyk all defeated their respective opponents Nelson Silva, Robbin Burns, and Brett Malli, while Armando Zarazua earned Bonsor one win by defeating opponent Brian Duong.
Women’s Division 3:
Meanwhile, the Women’s Division 3 team enjoyed a fun night of social squash with friendly competition, exhibition finals, and a social component to enjoy the last day of the VSL season.
WHAT A YEAR!
Congratulations to all the players and teams from this year’s Vancouver Squash League! What a commendable effort to tough out such an unusual season. What better way to end the year than with two crazy action-packed days of exciting squash?
We look forward to a more conventional start to the next VSL season this coming September but, while we wait, make sure to keep your eyes peeled as we may have some drop-in leagues running this summer!