The SRA’s Provincial Championships wrapped up this past weekend, with the winners of the Men’s and Women’s Open events being crowned Saturday afternoon once play had concluded. On the Women’s side, the winner was no surprise as Christine Richardson (Regina) added another provincial championship title to her resume. Christine defeated Danielle Drury (Saskatoon) 15-3, 15-10 in a fairly one-sided victory before having a battle with former provincial and national champion Linda Ellerington(Shields). After dropping the first game, Richardson was able to regroup and take a very tight and hotly contested second game. In the tiebreaker, it seemed like Ellerington had used up most of her energy and was fighting an uphill battle. Richardson would take the tiebreaker, and the match 10-15, 15-13, 11-8.
On the Men’s side, it was somewhat of a surprise victory for #3 seed Chris Exner (Saskatoon), who came into the tournament having not beaten #1 seed Lee Connell (Saskatoon) or #2 seed Nathaniel Husulak (Saskatoon) in a tournament all season. Exner chose the right time to put his best games together though, and on the back of some great drive serving took out Nathaniel on Friday 15-12, 15-4, and Lee on Saturday 15-8, 16-14. He won his other two matches over the weekend against Graham Frattinger (Martensville) and Tanner Prentice (Macrorie) to solidify his victory and garner his first Provincial Championship Title.
The results from this weekend’s Provincial Championships will be combined with the results of Racquetball Canada’s two National Team Selection Events (held earlier in the season) to determine the Elite Provincial Team which will represent Saskatchewan at the Canadian National Championships later this month in Brossard, QC.
