Mounties Badminton Begin 2024-25 Campaign at Dal AC
Seven years removed from their last ACAA championship, Mounties Badminton is looking to climb the pinnacle and regain their winning pedigree of the last generation.
The 2024-2025 season began with preseason action on Saturday, October 5th at Dalhousie Truro Campus. With many of the previous seasons' star players now graduated, including three Mounties (Bri Warwick, Jacob Lamothe, and Sophie Geis), the league is taking shape in the form of a youth movement. A rush of up and coming rookies are looking to dominate.
The Mounties have ten returning players this season: Mike Ta, Wilson Paluch, Tony Nguyen, Tallulah MacNeil, Mrunal Kariyavra, Taryn Greco, Ben Broadbent, Brenell Enman, Talla Corkum, and Cameron "Tookie" Brown. Six rookies made their ACAA debuts on October 5th: Azaniah Gepiga, Oakley Harlow-White, Cole McDonald, Markaey Sanchez, Gurmehar Singh, and Rosalyne Smith. A new generation of Mounties Badminton is on the horizon.
At the preseason tune-up tournament, the Mounties saw just how challenging and gruelling every match will be this year. In the men's doubles division, Paluch and Brown took down Dalhousie AC's twin brothers in group play, winning their division and setting up a matchup with another Dal AC duo, to whom they would ultimately fall.
On the other side of the draw, Broadbent and Ta took down the competition and advanced to the semifinals, defeating the twins 21-18, and claiming first place in the men's doubles category.
In women's doubles, a new pairing of MacNeil and Gepiga showed incredible potential, as did veterans Corkum and Enman. Neither pairing made it to the finals, but there is a sense in the air that the future holds some pressure-filled matches against l'UniversiteĢ de Sainte-Anne, who claimed first and second in women's doubles.
And finally, in mixed, neither Broadbent and MacNeil nor Ta and Gepiga could take down Dal AC, who defeated both Mounties teams to claim first place. A rematch is due...
The Mounties will open regular season play in Halifax when they travel to the University of King's College on November 2nd and 3rd.
Recap courtesy of Ben Broadbent