Tennis captures second with Yeung's return

After two back to back bronze medals, returning player Audrey Yeung helped McMaster women’s tennis capture silver at this year’s OUA championships

For fourth year player Audrey Yeung, a return to McMaster tennis after a year away from the sport could’ve been a hurdle. Instead, she was able to turn this into an opportunity, being eager to return with the same high form and determination from her past seasons.  

“I haven’t played tennis for a really long time, last year I was on hiatus because I was on co-op. So coming back into this I wanted to get back into the rhythm and get back out there and have fun,” said Yeung.

Though, a strong rhythm would seemingly be difficult for Yeung and the Marauders to obtain throughout the regular season. The team lost five of their games, losing by a single set in most of the losses.

Despite the losses, they did serve to emphasize the team’s assistant coaches’ message to the team. In essence, assistant coach Meghan Mazer wanted the team to enjoy their games and play their own way.

“Our coach would emphasize the need to have fun. Our coach Meg wanted us to have fun and not let our opponent's game influence ours,” said Yeung.

So despite the seasons losses, the Marauders were able to go into this year’s Ontario University Athletics championship with a strong mindset. The season's losses so far served as a motivator for the team and specifically Yeung, who had some results she was not happy with.

“I had a tough loss against Waterloo during the season, and we played them on the Saturday [of OUA championships]. So I was very motivated to win and that pushed me to play well on Friday and Saturday,” said Yeung. 

The team started off their OUA championships on Oct. 11. against Brock University, who the Marauders had previously beaten during the regular season. The game at OUAs would see no difference as the team picked up a comfortable five to two win against the Badgers.

The Marauders then face Waterloo University, one of the teams who beat the Marauders by just one point during the regular season. This time at the championships the Marauder's won six to one against the Waterloo Warriors.

This win secured silver for the Marauders, their best finish at OUAs after two years of consecutive bronze medals. The team would go on to face the number one ranked University of Toronto in their final match of the weekend on Oct. 13. The team fell short to Toronto's Varsity Blues, losing seven to zero.

Though the Marauders fell short against the Varsity Blues in the OUA finals, their journey to capturing silver showcased their team’s resilience and growth throughout the entirety of the season. Yeung and her teammates can reflect proudly on their strong performances which led them to capturing the team’s best result in two years.