The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s and women’s squash teams garnered second-place finishes at their respective Black Knight tournament over the past two weekends at the Athletic Centre squash courts.

During the men’s tournament (Oct. 24), the Blues reached the championship match with an incredible finish against the Fabulous Fitness Club (FFC) in the semifinals. Down 5-4, Ryan Zufelt needed a win to tie as the Blues would go on to take the match in the tie-breaker (gameswon). It all came down to the final points in the fifth game and, tied at 2-2, Zufelt managed to close out the game.

The Blues now faced the Queen’s Gaels in the finals, a team that had beaten them 6-0 in last year’s OUA competition. The games were much closer this time, however, Queen’s hung on to take the inaugural Black Knight team championship trophy, 6-4.

In the women’s event (Oct. 31), the Blues women were tied with the Gaels 5-5, however lost out in the tiebreaker by three games. The Blues were leading 5-4 with outstanding wins from Megan Northey in the number one spot, rookies Jazeen Hollings in the number six match, Helena Whyte at number seven, Karen Ho at number eight and second-year Elizabeth Cambridge in the number nine position.

Blues number five Daniah Shamim needed a win to beat Queen’s former number one Hilary Dugan. Dugan proved too strong for Shamim, and went on to secure the Black Knight team championship trophy.

Queen’s, who failed to medal in last year’s OUA championships, showed that they will be the team to beat with four new quality players at the top of their order. However, Northey provided the performance of the day as she defeated Gaels number one Erin Roberts who is currently ranked 35th by Squash Canada.

The Blues women continue their T&D mid-week league matches this week, while in two weeks both men’s and women’s teams will be travelling to St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. to play the No. 15 Saints men and No. 24 Saints women.

Following that, the team will move on to Montreal as the men start their OUA season with two tough games against the McGill Redmen and Queen’s Gaels.