Badminton Mounties win championship title

The Mount Allison Mounties badminton team won a well-fought battle on Saturday, winning the ACAA championship title and bringing the conference banner back home to the McCormack Gymnasium.
It was a total team effort that secured the win, as both Mount Allison and the UniversitÉ Sainte Anne were tied at 38 points each, at the conclusion of the first day. Based upon tie-breaking procedure, the Mounties secured top spot, claiming three first-place finishes out of five against the Church Point team, and thus winning the banner.
Every game became important as one loss would have meant fewer points for the overall team total. The Mounties rallied and claimed three solid victories, with all three matches going to the maximum three games.
In women's doubles, it was a battle of the "sisters" with Mount Allison's Carrie and Heather Murray defeating Holland College, King's College, and then finally Monique and Mirelle Hogan of Sainte Anne in an exciting three-game final, with scores of 21-14, 22-24 and 21-19.
Men's doubles partners Brent Barkhouse and Karsten Hempel held off their Sainte Anne opposition to win their third game of the final match by a score of 21-19.
In mixed action, Justin Barkhouse and Sally Ng also had a clutch victory in their final match of the day beating the Sainte Anne team in three, with scores of 21-23, 21-12, 21-19.
In women's singles, rookie Alexina LePage was up against stiff competition, losing to Sainte Anne's Dianne Boudreau and to the top conference female, Elysia Atkinson of Holland College.However, she put together a solid third match and defeated Sarah Kraus of King's College in the final match of the day 21-5, 21-19 to take third place and earn five points toward the team total.
In men's singles, rookie Callan Field played some of his best badminton of the year, but had to settle for fourth spot in a competitive men's division.
Sunday's play was all about individual category performances for placement on the all-conference team that will travel to the nationals in March at Humber College in Etobicoke, Ont. The Mounties again stepped up their games and were able to place four athletes out of eight to the squad. Brothers Brent and Justin Barkhouse defended their title as top men's doubles team, and the Murray sisters backed up their Saturday's victory, dominating all matches to earn a trip to the nationals as well.
Other qualifiers were Elysia Atkinson of Holland College who upset Dianne Boudreau at the end of the day in women's singles, Ryan MacIntosh of University of King's College who dominated in men's singles, and Julien LeBlanc and Ariel Aucoin from Sainte Anne who won the mixed doubles category.
Travelling coaches with the all-conference team will be Nil Doucet of Sainte Anne and Janet Robinson of Mount Allison.
At the closing banquet on Saturday evening, the ACAA conference award winners were recognized:
Female Rookie of the Year: Heather Murray, Mount A Male Rookie of the Year: Justin Barkhouse, Mount A Female Player of the Year: Elysia Atkinson, Holland College Male Player of the Year: Brent Barkhouse, Mount A Coach of the Year: Nil Doucet, UniversitÉ Sainte Anne.