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A little bit of luck and a plan helped Peter Mather to his first tournament win of the season last weekend.

Mather, currently ranked second in the territory beat number one seed Jane Bell in a five-set final to take the win in the Mixed A division at the Early Bird Squash tournament.

鈥淪he鈥檚 a really good squash player; I鈥檓 more of a hack kind of,鈥� said Mather. 鈥淚 have to have a strategy to beat Jane because she鈥檚 so good she can predict everything.鈥�

Bell seemed to have Mather鈥檚 number in the first two games, returning his shots effortlessly.

Then in the third, Mather made a comeback pass and won the game, making it 2-1.

He continued to fight hard. By game four, both players looked fatigued and between points, Mather was wiping his hands on the walls.

鈥淲hat happens normally is in the first two games she鈥檚 on top of everything I do and beats me,鈥� said Mather.

鈥淪ometimes she takes it easy in the third game and if I can get the third game, it鈥檚 always possible to win the next two because you鈥檙e both hacking.鈥�

Both Bell and Mather had byes in the first round. Mather began Saturday morning with a five-game match against his wife, Terri Cairns, which he won 3-2 and then dispatched Stephen Buckler 3-0 to get to the centre court final.

Bell鈥檚 first match was against Jonathan Hawkins, which she won in three-straight games. next up was Sam Penner and the match went to five games.

鈥淔itness is tough because all of the games are today, so by the time you get to the third match, you鈥檙e pretty tired,鈥� said Bell. 鈥淣ormally I feel pretty good, but I was definitely getting pretty tired by the end, as was Peter I think.鈥�

Bell, 25, has been playing squash for more than a decade. She competed in the 2003 and 2007 Canada Winter Games and was once ranked third in Canada.

She coaches the junior squash program at Better Bodies.

鈥淚 think I play very classic, more proper squash, just because I鈥檝e trained with a lot of really good coaches all over Canada,鈥� said Bell.

Between games, Bell and Mather savoured their time off the court, making trips to the water fountain and to sit with the gathering crowd.

After he won the third game, Mather felt the momentum shifting.

鈥淎fter that I knew I had a chance and it was who worked harder at that point,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ormally she beats me three-straight so that鈥檚 the biggest thing, that I got to win against her.鈥�

In the Mixed B division, Paul Nelson defeated Tony鈥圧adford 3-1 in the final. Mackenzie Cameron beat Jamie Mcallister 3-0 to take the Mixed C title and Oshea Jephson beat Brenna MacPhail to take the Mixed D division in three-straight.

The next tournament for Squash Yukon is the popular, Reservoir Dogs tournament on Nov. 18 and 19.