'Really something special': U of A Pandas take home 4th straight tennis championship
The U of A Pandas Tennis team captured their fourth-straight Tennis Canada University Championship Sunday afternoon. (James Hajjar/Tennis Canada)
The University of Alberta Pandas tennis team is the recent winner of a fourth consecutive national championship, something that hasn't been done at the school in 20 years.
"It's so fulfilling. I've just been on cloud nine, honestly, with this last nationals win," fourth-year player Jessica Kreutz told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.
She played a perfect 4-0 in Montreal.
It was the third national competition she, team captain Emma Rutherford and veteran Alexandra Jewitt had competed in.
The Pandas tennis team is 140-37 combined in singles and doubles matches since the 2018-19 season.
Only two other U of A teams have won four or more national titles in a row, according to the school: the Pandas rugby team won five over 1999-2003 and the Pandas volleyball team won six over 1995-2000.
Kreutz attributed her team's success to a variety of factors.
"All of the ladies that have been playing on the team have been top level," she said.
"The coaches, as well. They record all of our matches, do the statistics and stuff, they dissect our own game style, too. So just really good training."
University of Alberta Pandas tennis player Jessica Kreutz speaks with CTV News Edmonton on Aug. 22, 2023, after her team won its fourth consecutive title at the Tennis Canada University Championship earlier that month. (CTV News Edmonton / Sean Amato)
Her coaches, Ivan Quintero and Kyle Sluchinski, together received the Female Team Coach of the Year award this season.
"It takes a lot of people to be able to win a national championship," Sluchinski commented. "Obviously, the Pandas in general have just been training incredibly hard these last few years, and then as coaches, we're just trying to do as much as we can to support the Pandas in every way we can."
Winning a championship once is remarkable, he added.
"Being able to do it continuously for the last four years has been something really special."
He said the Pandas have a "really good" chance at extending their success over the next few years. Kreutz is the only player leaving and the coach is excited about the skill level of the players coming onto the team, as well as an expansion of training facilities at the U of A.
"It's not just going to come easy. We have to make sure that we put in the effort and do the work to be able to continue that legacy moving forward."
Kreutz will be turning her focus to her medical studies but doesn't plan on quitting the sport.
"It's been such a prominent memory in my life … just competing on the team and making memories.
"The girls are like my best friends, too. It'll always stick with me. I'll still hit with the girls and everything, and I'll still come back."
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Sean Amato
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