A League
Team AON produced a smooth and efficient performance to gain maximum points in their 16-4 victory over Stone Art Squash Team. The Crease brothers, Robin and Jason filled the top 2 spots for team AON and achieved 3-2 and 3-0 wins respectively, with Stone Art player Hamish Thornton playing good squash to take Robin to 5 games. Team AON’s Mason McLarney and Liam Davies played the lower order matches with McLarney winning 3-0 and Davies coming first in another 3-2 battle with Doug Jacobson.
B League
Atla Arrows swept aside MES Mavericks in a 4-1 victory in the B league. Highlights of the night saw Mavericks’ Clare Townsend playing against Macklin Wilson and although Clare did not win, she showed just what dedication she has made to the sport in such a short time, playing good tight line and length squash to make Macklin work for the win. Another good match saw Phil Butler narrowly scrape each of the 3 games to beat Dasa Brynjolffssen, who was aggressively hunting the volley and applying pressure throughout. Match of the night saw Atla’s Mike Fernandes pushing hard against Dave Hedley to get 3 points. Although Dave had Mike running back and forth, Mike kept his pace to take the match.
Despite it being very close, Outcasts beat Racketeers by 3-2, making it 4 wins in the last 5 matches. Steve Pitts of Racketeers beat Pete Sharples 3-1 in 4 very close games and then Outcasts’ Mark Henson leveled it by beating Andrew Brown comfortably 3-0. Pete Ginty then put Outcasts ahead by beating James Leith 3-1 but the score was shortly leveled again when Racketeer’s Fraser Dorling played some of his best squash this season to beat Liam Davies 3-1. The best match of the night was between George Weston and Racketeer’s Dafydd Lewis. Dafydd won the first 2 games and went 9-3 up against the higher ranked George by playing an excellent variety of boasts and drops that prevented George finding a rhythm. George eventually managed to win the 3rd and then took the 4th to level at 2-2. The final game was a close contest with George winning 3-2, meaning Outcasts won overall.
C League
The first match of the night was closely fought between Buchanan & Pitts Misfits no. 5 Chris Gledhill and Dragons’ Scott Jones with the latter eventually winning 2-3. There was another 5 set battle at string no. 4 between Misfits’ Elliott Henson and Dragons’ Andy Mclarney with Hendon winning 3-2. At no. 3, Misfits captain Stephen Pitts beat Jamie Biddulph 3-2. At no. 2, Dragons’ Phil Whittam struggled to find his feet and lost 3-0 to Misfits’ Andy Dixon. Despite losing the first game by 3 points, Misfits Pat Russell came back to win 3-1 against Dragons’ Stuart Highy. The final score was 4 – 1 to the Misfits.
Despite only fielding 4 players, the Falcons had a strong team spirit and were the eventual winners through their captain Vusi Zivave who won in straight sets against Matt Ripley. The other wins came from Jon Cox and Joe Butler who beat Mark Goodall and Tek Min Ewe respectively. Crazy Jaks pulled one back through Tom Barker who beat the cheerful Tash Jones 3-0. Overall score Falcons 3- Crazy Jacks 2, including the walkover game.
As one of Hansard Racketeers’ team had to withdraw unexpectedly at the last minute, the fixture with Global Monetary Solutions Junior teams was reduced to 4 games. At no.4, Steve Wright for Racketeers looked to avenge last season’s defeat against Cristina Cruz. It was an excellent match with many long rallies featuring Cristina’s greater speed against Wright’s power. The match went right down to the wire with Wright winning 15-14 in the fifth set to take the match 3-2. At no. 3, Robbie Lapsley for the Juniors showed great dexterity with drop shots, but lost 3-1 to the more experienced Daryl Richards of Racketeers. Harrison Callow at no.2 for the Juniors played his best match of the season against a much higher ranked Harry Douthwaite of Racketeers. Harry eventually won 3-0 despite all three games being very closely contested. Callum Larkin at no.1 for the Juniors beat Dave Johnson for Racketeers 3-1. It was a very competitive match but Larkin’s mobility proved the deciding factor. Despite conceding the final match, Racketeers won 3-2.
The final set of matches was between Strix Squash Squad and the Island Exhaust Vets. Firstly, Strix’s captain George Rumney played against Mark Stratford. With many entertaining rallies and well fought points, Mark won 3-1, gaining the first win of the night for the Vets. Exhaust’s Phil Shaw, Les Callow and Pete Sharples all won their games 3-0 with their experience proving too much for their opponents. Final game of the night was Strix’s Ewan Cannan vs Gerrit du Toit. Even with a bad knee injury Ewan played really well and fought through the rallies to get as many points as he could. Gerrit was a strong contender by placing a mix of shots around the court making it difficult for Ewan to get them. Overall, both teams played well but it was a strong week for the Exhaust vets and a tough one for the Strix team.
Buchanan & Pitts Misfits (Left to right): Andy Dixon, Stephen Pitts, Patric Russell, Chris Gledhill, Elliott Henson