The University of Manitoba Tennis Club (UMTC) recently competed in the Prairie Invitational University Tennis tournament Feb.16-18 in Calgary. The men’s UMTC six-player Herd was led by team captain, Magnus Gnilo.
Formerly the top junior tennis player in Manitoba with years of experience at the national level, Magnus is now a first-year student at the University of Manitoba in the Price Faculty of Engineering. Magnus battled hard in his first University tennis experience earning respect from the University of Calgary Dino’s while turning heads of the Alberta fans. Magnus took the U of C top seed Rahul Duggi to a third set tie-break 1-6, 7-6, 4-10.
Another Herd member, Gurjosh Singh, beat the University of Alberta’s Harry Lin in a three-set victory 1-6, 6-4, 10-5. Gurjosh is currently an international student at the International College of Manitoba with plans to attend the University of Manitoba within the Faculty of Arts program next year. Other players of the who contributed to the charge include Jesse Shen, Diviansh Pandey, Ben Kurjewicz, and Craig Hillier. The U of A Golden Bears went on to win the Prairie Invitational Tournament by defeating the U of C Dino’s with a close team point score of 4-3.
According to the University of Manitoba Tennis Club President Craig Hillier, “We made a charge and had the competition looking over their shoulder this year with the increased level of improvement from our men’s competitive team.” Craig adds, “With the recent amalgamation of U Sports and university tennis across Canada it is a perfect opportunity to work towards building Varsity level University teams here within the province. Our goal is to establish a women’s team alongside the current men’s team as part of the UMTC. With the help of Tennis Manitoba, we are creating a pathway to prevent losing our tennis talent to other universities within Canada and the United States. With the UMTC our tennis athletes can stay here within the province as University of Manitoba students and like other provinces represent their institution at the national level by competing within the U Sports system.”
The University of Manitoba Tennis Club would like to thank the Executive Director of Tennis Manitoba Mark Arndt and Past President Mohamed Ismath for their financial support used to send the UMTC herd to Alberta, gaining invaluable university tennis experience.
If you plan to attend or are currently a full-time student at the University of Manitoba and have interest in playing tennis competitively, email Craig at umtennis@gmail.com
