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Mustangs take third at Valley championship

Princess Margaret's tennis team goes 3-1 to finish third in Okanagan Valley

The Princess Margaret Mustangs tennis team qualified for the provincial championship after finishing third in the Okanagan Valley championship hosted by Kelowna May 6.

Mustangs coach Jim Kocsis said it is the first time in his eight years the team will compete in provincials. He said the players are excited and optimistic about the tournament.

“We will likely be facing some very stiff competition as a number of the top-ranked junior players in the province will be competing,” he said. “We feel the experience will be a huge benefit to our players and our program.”

The Mustangs went 3-1 in the valley championship and opened with a hard fought 6-5 victory over Vernon’s Fulton Secondary.

They then had a disappointing loss to zone rival Southern Okanagan Secondary Hornets, who pulled off a 6-5 upset that went down to the last doubles match.

“Credit goes out to the Hornets team who competed very well in all the matches,” said Kocsis.

The Mustangs were one player short in the tie, forcing them to forfeit two points and Kocsis said that impacted the final results.

The Mustangs bounced back with easy 9-2 wins over Kamloops’ Valleyview Secondary and Armstrong’s Pleasant Valley Secondary.

The Mustangs received strong performances from the doubles teams of Felix Fuhrmann/Cedric Beese and Taylor Corrie/Jaquelyn Ford, who won seven out of eight sets. Kocsis said the players were determined in the valley championship. With the Mustangs missing a few regular players, alternates stepped up and performed well to support the team.

The Mustangs travel to Burnaby for the provincial tournament May 22-24. Kocsis and his coaching staff have been impressed with the team’s strong and consistent play.

They look forward to an equally impressive showing at provincials. Kelowna’s Okanagan Mission Secondary was the top team with a perfect 3–0 record followed by Southern Okanagan Secondary at 3–1, good for second place.