Seawolves Badminton Takes Home ACAA Silver Medal

(Truro, NS) The Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association held their annual Championship Team Event with the host Dalhousie Rams being named ACAA Champions.  

In the event, every team plays each other one by one in each event; men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women's doubles mixed doubles, with the team finishing with the most wins being named ACAA Champions.  

First match of the day for the Seawolves was against the Universite Sainte Anne Dragons, where the Seawolves walked away with a 4-1 victory. First match of the morning was women’s doubles where Nihma Hussain and Addison McClune won their match 21-9, 21-8. Next up the men’s duo of Arshath Vaheed and Carter McCarthy won 21-8, 21-15. Both singles matches were won by Abby Doiron (21-6, 21-3) and Vaibhav Bhatta (21-6, 21-6). The match finished off with the mixed doubles team of Harsha Kumaravel and Manvi Vaya winning their first set 21-9, but dropping the next two sets 21-16, 21-16.  

Second match featured the host Dalhousie Rams who would walk away with a tightly contested 3-2 team victory. The Seawolves rolled with the same team lineup from their first match. The first event was women’s singles, where Doiron would drop her match 21-17, 21-11. She was followed by Bhatta who would even the match after winning his singles match 21-7, 21-13. The Seawolves would take a 2-1 team lead after the mixed doubles pair of Vaya/Kumaravel came away victorious. 19-21, 26-24, 21-16. The Seawolves would fall in the final two matches. Men’s doubles of Vaheed/McCarthy 21-18, 13-21, 10-21 and women’s doubles of McClune/Hussain 20-22, 16-21.  

Next up was the Mounties in a must win situation for the Seawolves to keep their hopes alive for an ACAA title. Leading off the match was Bhatta who once again continued his strong play on the day with a victory in men’s singles 21-10, 21-11. Following that was women’s doubles where Coach Paul Higgins decided to switch up his pairings, going with Abby Doiron and Nihma Hussain. The duo would put up a good fight, but would end up falling 18-21, 20-22. In women’s singles Addison McClune took care of business 21-6, 21-10 to push the Seawolves to a 2-1 lead. That lead would be short lived as the men’s doubles pairings faced a strong Mounties duo, falling 12-21, 14-21. The match deciding mixed doubles match had Kumaravel and Vaya at it once again, and they would fall 19-21, 10-21.  

With the hopes of an ACAA Championship dashed, attention turned to a potential ACAA silver medal as the Seawolves faced the reigning ACAA champions, the UKC Blue Devils. Leading off for the Seawolves was a new insertion into the lineup, Maggie Rockwood, in women’s singles. Rockwood would battle, but end up losing 21-6, 21-2. Next match featured the women’s doubles pair of Hussain/Doiron and they would knot the match up 1-1 with a 21-14, 21-19 victory. Mixed doubles was up next in a marquee matchup between Bhatta/McClune and Ritu Shah/Lyle Huth. Bhatta and McClune would take the matchup 22-20, 21-14 and from there the Seawolves would take the matchup with Kumaravel winning his men’s singles match 21-5, 21-16 and men’s doubles of McCarthy/Vaheed winning 21-3, 21-10.  

The win prompted a three way tie for second place, with the Seawolves winning the tie break to win the silver medal.  

Tomorrow morning the Seawolves athletes will vie for their place at CCAA Badminton Nationals, hosted by the Seawolves from March 5-8.