The Yukon's male and female squash teams take on Manitoba today in their fourth day of competition at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax, N.S.

Yesterday both squads faced stiff competition in against British Columbia, putting in strong efforts but losing their matches 4-0. On the boys' side, all four B.C. opponents are ranked in the top 20 in Canada.

"Our team went for every ball and had some long rallies with the team – which resulted in them earning some points,” team manager Lia Johnson said, adding,

"Stephen (Grundmanis) got five points against the second ranked player in Canada, and of those five points, four were earned, winners hit by Stephen.”Johnson said Zain Syed, 16, also had a great game.

"He had a great attitude and went out to give his best effort,” Johnson said.

She said all of the Yukon male players won points in their games, and then stayed at the courts for another hour practicing.

In the girls' encounter with Alberta, Yukon number two player Kelly Panchyshyn led the points tally, winning 10 points against Nicole Bunyan in a 33-10 loss over three games.

Both teams are led by Squash Yukon head coach Khoon Chua and Johnson, a former Yukon squash competitor at the Canada Games.

Squash usually is an individual sport with two competitors. In the Canada Games, each participating province or territory enters four female and four male players, who are ranked first, second, third and fourth. The top two players must be under age 19, and the others must be under age 17.

In each "encounter,” the four players play their matches consecutively against the competing player with the same ranking – the number ones play the ones, etc.

The Yukon's squash teams began competition on Sunday and Monday.

On Sunday, the female team lost their encounters 4-0 against Northwest Territories in the early afternoon, and against number-two ranked Alberta in the evening. The male team also lost their encounter against powerhouse Alberta 4-0.

On the girls' side, Oster won the Yukon's first game on the glass court. She took one game against Northwest Territories competitor Dominique Jure, losing 3-1 with a score of 37-23. This is only Oster's first year of competition outside the Yukon.

Flather succeeded in winning 19 points against Alberta's top-seeded player Danielle Letourneau, with a final score of 33-19.

"Sophie (Flather) played the second ranked female player in the country, and top-ranked player at the games, and came close to getting a game,” Johnson said.

"She ended up losing 8-11 in that game, but looked good out there.

"Shermaine (Chua) also had a great game yesterday against Alberta, hustling and having good rallies with the #17 ranked player in Canada,” Johnson said Monday.

"She said she was glad she hadn't known the player's ranking going into the game.”

Johnson said the boys' Sunday match-up against Alberta was tough, "but that didn't stop Stephen (Grundmanis) from coming out blazing. He looked calm and focused in his game, especially for someone who is battling a cold.”

Monday morning the Yukon male team lost 4-0 to Saskatchewan, and the female team lost 4-0 to B.C.

Syed had his closest match yet, stealing a game against Benjamin Foseman before losing the match in four games 39-25.

Mustafa, in the Yukon's number two spot, also won numerous points in his 33-21 loss to Matthew Mutschler.

"We had some close games (this morning), with a few being within a few points, 11-9,” said Johnson.

"Mustafa lost in three, but the last two games were 11-9.”

Johnson said Coleman Newell also had close games Monday and is looking increasingly focused with each encounter.