Juneau has maintained possession of the Capital Cup. But only by a whisker.
In the closest-ever Capital Cup, a tennis competition that pits the Yukon’s capital against Alaska’s capital, Juneau won by the tiny margin of 293-292. That’s after more than 50 pro-set (first one to win eight games) matches over the weekend at the Alaska Club in Juneau.
It was no picnic for Whitehorse juniors Ewan Halliday, 10, and Alex Roberts, 12. The two juniors had the last two matches, taking the court while the score was tied 281-281. In the end, Halliday won 8-4 and Roberts lost 8-3.
A total of 19 Whitehorse players - four adults and 15 juniors - made the trip to take on roughly 60 Juneau players on their indoor courts.
“I think it was the biggest group we’ve ever had in Juneau,” said Tennis Yukon head coach Jan Polivka. “It was really great. We had a lot of feedback from the Juneau people about how our juniors have really improved - all of them. We have more juniors than Juneau and they have a real (indoor) tennis facility.”
Juneau took back the Cup last June in Whitehorse, winning 182-150. Whitehorse had won the Cup the previous spring in Juneau.
The biannual Capital Cup takes place indoors in Juneau in the off-season and outdoors in Whitehorse during the summer. It dates back to 1983, but was discontinued after 2000. Since it was resurrected in 2008, Whitehorse has only won it twice in eight attempts, neither time at home.
Named MVPs by the Yukon team were Louis Kedziora and Pascale Halliday, both of whom went undefeated over the weekend.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to get to Juneau for several days in a row,” said Tennis Yukon president Stacy Lewis.
“Juneau’s courts are the closest indoor courts for us. We train in the gym for nearly six months, looking forward to this week in Juneau, and then when we get back to Whitehorse. There’s only about six to eight weeks left before we can get outside on our real courts.”
Whitehorse will be hosting Juneau in the next Capital Cup on July 19 to July 21 at the Mount McIntyre courts. Tennis Yukon would like to see some new players, adults and juniors, come out to represent Whitehorse.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com