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Alaska's capital took home the Capital Cup with an emphatic win over their Yukon rivals in their annual friendly tennis tournament, held outdoors in Whitehorse over the weekend.

The nine-man Juneau squad beat Whitehorse 318-229 in the three-day tournament held at the Mount McIntyre tennis courts. Scores are made up of total games won in pro set format.

"It was a great weekend to come up here,鈥� said Juneau player Art Dee. "You guys are such good hosts and it's nice to come up to sunshine and dry (conditions). It's always fun.鈥�

Dee last played in Whitehorse four years ago.

The Alaskan squad contained a full range of players, he explained, making each of the matches interesting to watch.

"We've got high games, and we've got lower games, but we have a lot of good, fun games,鈥� said Dee. "It's just such a nice, relaxing atmosphere. It's not highly competitive, that you're just at each other.鈥�

As for winning the trophy back this time around, Dee said the tournament is all about the friendly rivalry.

"We trade it back and forth,鈥� he said. "We each get possession.鈥�

Whitehorse won the outdoor tournament last year, and retained the trophy when Juneau's spring tournament wasn't played.

Tournament director Stacy Lewis said Juneau arrived in Whitehorse with a strong core of players, and that helped when it came to matchups against Yukon's Tier 2 players.

"Their good players and our good players have good matches, and whomever wins, it's an 8-6 or something like that,鈥� Lewis explained."It's always the spread that really gets you.

"Part of it is knowing the players. The people who've come every year for six years can be matched up pretty evenly. But when people are coming that we don't know as well, it's more difficult.鈥�

The Whitehorse team consisted of 28 players, which meant many Yukoners were playing one match to a Juneau player's three. The local roster included six junior players.

Game play included both singles and doubles.

"It's quite a fun rivalry,鈥� said Lewis. "People are disappointed we lost, but it's definitely in the spirit of fun. And because it's a perpetual trophy, we know we'll see them in a few months and we'll try to get it back.鈥�

In March, the two cities square off indoors in Juneau for the same trophy.

The battle for the Capital Cup began in 1983 and ran until 2000, whereupon competition lapsed for eight years. The trophy was put back in circulation in 2008.

Since then, Juneau has won about two-thirds of the time, Lewis said.

This weekend, Lewis will travel to Vancouver for a final warmup tournament with the Yukon's Canada Games players.

Six Yukon juniors will head to Sherbrooke, Que. next month.