Talk about wiping the slate clean. Of the ten finalists who took to the courts of the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre over the past couple of days, only the men's doubles team of Josh Harkins and Cameron Desjardins of Bishop Carter were in the same situation one year ago.

The 2012 SDSSAA Tennis Championships will be remembered as the "coming out party" for a number of young guns, as new faces were everywhere to be found.

The Marymount Academy tandem of Krista Burns and Michelle Filipovic were indicative in this day of transition, beating Lauren Booth and Stephanie Hrechka from Lasalle 10-6 in the Ladies Doubles final.

"We played last year and things didn't go too well," said Burns of the grade 10 duet. "We might have won just one game, but things went much better this year."

"We're more confident now," Burns added. "Last year, we were in grade nine and we figured the competition would be so tough. This year, we thought we could beat these teams."

"Both of us realized that last year, we almost tried too hard," Burns stated. "By trying too hard, the ball would always go out. So this year, we just focused on keeping it in, and that worked out really well for us."

Despite their relative youth, both Burns and Filipovic have wasted little time entrenching themselves as athletic mainstays at the home of the Regals. Enjoying success in a variety of other sporting competitions while donning the Marymount colours, Burns suggested that tennis definitely provides an outlet with a somewhat unique twist.

"It’s much different, by far," Burns said. "First of all, in most other sports, you have a bigger team, and there are referees, so everything is a lot more intense. There’s also more of a process, whereas this is just a couple of days."

"We really look at this as a fun opportunity and winning it just made it that much sweeter," Burns concluded. While many newcomers were making a name for themselves, Harkins and Desjardins were in a class of their own.

The Gators' pairing dropped only a handful of games in breezing throughout the entire men's doubles field, bouncing fellow BAC'ers Bruce McKee and James Snow 10-1 in the final.

In Mixed Doubles play, Pascale Lavergne-Giroux and Kyle Hartman of College Notre-Dame stopped Laura Graham and Devin Blais of Lasalle, in the one and only grouping that was fully completed on Tuesday.

Bishop Carter picked up a second gold medal, helping capture the team banner in the process, as Jason Boudreau knocked off Akshay Varghese of Lo-Ellen 10-6 with their head to head battle.

The women's singles crown was claimed by Sally Ross of Lockerby, defeating Madeleine Sauve of Lo-Ellen in back to back games, winning the final 10-9 in a tie-breaker.

Ross had to beat Sauve twice after losing a match earlier in preliminary round play as more than 150 competitors from across the region traded volleys in the double-knockout affair.

Following is a breakdown of the top four finishers in each of the five categories that were contested this week:

Winners from the city championships now move on to the NOSSA playdowns set for next Thursday (May 24th) in Blind River, with the OFSAA Tennis Festival set for June 4th to the 6th at the Rexall Centre and York University campus.