Noah Koslowsky & Micah Reimer of Steinbach Christian recorded 10 wins and just one loss at the Provincial High School Badminton Championships in Brandon.

Unfortunately that one blemish happened in the semifinals last Saturday.

Koslowsky and Reimer did bounce back from that loss by winning the third place game.

"We felt pretty good about that," said Koslowsky. "We had a tough semifinal so I feel third was a good finish."

Daniel Liew & Julia Tan of Vincent Massey Collegiate in Winnipeg defeated Koslowsky & Reimer 21-14, 21-15 in the mixed doubles semifinals.

"They played better I guess," said Koslowsky. "They played a stronger game but we have a lot to learn especially since we're younger. We just need to be faster and be more consistent. We also need to get more practices in and train hard."

Koslowsky & Reimer beat Brenden Bighetty & Ashelle Dick of Grand Rapids 21-9, 21-18 in the third place game.

"We both really wanted to finish strong," Reimer said. "We weren't sure how hard the team would be that we were playing for third place. We wanted to play strong so we were trying to get ourselves excited about that even after the loss."

The Steinbach Christian mixed doubles team were perfect on day one as they reeled off seven straight wins in the round robin.

Reimer said they started to feel the pressure on day two.

"We were both nervous I think. We tried to stay confident. My partner really encouraged me. We started getting more nervous as we approached the semifinal because we knew that we would be playing a really tough team. We had played them before and they were very strong. We were really nervous going into that game but we managed to get focused. In the third place game, we were disappointed that we lost earlier, but still excited that we could get top three."

"It's really cool to see that we did that well," added Reimer. "It's just encouraging to see our hard work - what it accomplished for us."

Noah Koslowsky and Micah Reimer have a couple more years to fine tune their game.

Koslowsky is wrapping up his grade 10 year at Steinbach Christian and Reimer is in grade 9.

"Noah and Micah are very dedicated players and have a passion for the game," said Flames badminton coach Scott Schalla. "I first started coaching Noah five years ago when he was in grade 6 and Micah in 2015 when she came to a summer camp. They both also practice once a week in Stonewall at the Interlake Badminton Club under coach Dale Kinley from September-May. Playing in Stonewall has really helped their development as they play with and collaborate with many other competitive juniors in the province."

"I would say one of the biggest factors in their development as players is actually the community aspect of the sport," added Schalla. "They are friends with players from other communities and practice and play with some of them regularly."

"All of these players encourage and push each other to be better at the game and help each other out. For example, Mark Shinnie (grade 12) from Teulon, who won Provincials in doubles, Chris Wiebe (grade 10) from Stonewall, who finished third in singles, and Emalia Sinclair (grade 9) from Warren, who finished seventh in singles, have all played tournaments with Noah and Micah and are now great friends on and off the court."

"As coaches, we also encourage and help each other out," said Schalla. "At Provincials Tyler Humeny of Whitemouth and myself spent the tournament coaching both Noah & Micah along with Mackenzie Ftoma & David Humeny, who were consolation finalists in mixed. Collaboration is key if you want to get to the next level."