GUELPH, Ont. – Both the UOIT men's and women's curling teams opened up day one of the OUA championship with a win and a loss.
 
The five-day bonspiel is being hosted by the University of Guelph from Feb. 11-15 at the Guelph Curling Club.
 
The women's team earned a 6-3 victory over Trent in draw one of the championship but fell 6-4 to the Western Mustangs in their afternoon match.
 
Tied 2-2 against Trent, UOIT would blow things wide open in the sixth end scoring four points with the hammer. Trent would get one point back in the seventh but would end up running out of rocks in the eighth.
 
Up against Western in the afternoon draw, UOIT would fall behind the eight-ball as Western scored the opening six points on the game. The Ridgebacks would score points in the final three ends but their comeback effort would fall short, losing 6-4.
 
The Ridgebacks will take on McMaster (8:30 a.m.) and Windsor (3:30 p.m.) on Friday.
 
The men's team followed a similar path to the women's on day one as they opened the bonspiel with a 5-3 win over Laurentian followed up with an 11-4 loss to Queen's.
 
Against Laurentian, UOIT would score single points in the fourth, fifth and sixth ends to take a 5-2 lead. The Voyageurs would comeback with a single point in the seventh but UOIT managed to hold on for the win.
 
To close out day one, the Ridgebacks could not get into a groove against Queen's as they allowed six points in the first two ends. UOIT would strike back with two in the third, but Queen's would score five more in the fourth and fifth ends to take a commanding lead they would hold on to.
 
The men's team will take on Guelph (12 p.m.) and Western (7 p.m.) on day two of the championship.
 
The top three men's and women's teams from this week's bonspiel will qualify for the upcoming CIS championship that takes place from March 20-23 in Kelowna.