Division 1 Roundup - Week 13

Lead at the Top Reduced?

The League schedule is now just one week away from the two thirds point of the season, and the top three positions have tightened up.  Also, in a similar way that the first 9-1 result took ages to happen, and then two arrived in quick succession, the same has now happened with 10-0 results, as just the second such scoreline has occurred just a week after the first.

The leaders, Milton Keynes Sasaki, were unable to raise a team for their match against Chackmore Hasbeens, this week, and so have ended up conceding the match, with the Committee confirm a 7-0 result to Hasbeens. Nevertheless, given the big lead they held, Sasaki remain top, although their previous leading margin has been reduced to five points

Second-placed Milton Keynes Phoenix produced a fine 8-2 win over equal fourth-placed Milton Keynes Pumas, to close to within five points of Sasaki, with Gerald Ridgway, who produced his second maximum of the season, doing much of the damage for Phoenix. Gerald was pushed mighty close in the last set of the night by Andy Smith, who had won the two sets for Pumas earlier, but it was Gerald who just prevailed 11-9 in the deciding leg. Gerald was well backed up by Alan Bolding and Mervyn Phillips, who won two singles sets each, with Mervyn also sharing in a doubles win with Gerald against Andy and Adam Snowdon, whilst Pumas had reserve, Kareem Omar, as their third player.  Pumas drop to fifth place, now five points behind fourth.

Third-placed Leighton Buzzard Avengers jumped up to within just two points of second place, as they recorded just the second 10-0 win in the Division, against the struggling Mursley Hawks, who had also lost 10-0 the week before!  The successful Avengers trio were Mateusz Browarnik, Fabrice Spelta and Steve Jordan, with Mateusz and Steve both claiming maximums, as they also took the doubles against David Bartlett and Martin Johnson in four games, whilst Mateus did not drop any games in singles.  The closest two sets were saved for the end of the night, when Fabrice took a tight fourth game to get past Martin, and then David pushed Steve to a deciding game, which Steve won 11-7.  Mateusz and Fabrice each extended their winning runs in singles to ten sets in a row.

The final match of the week saw sixth-placed Milton Keynes Sharks improve their advantage over seventh-placed Leighton Buzzard Spitfires to thirteen points, by beating them 7-3.  Sharks were indebted to their supersub, Andy Person, who was playing up from Division 2, as Andy won all three of his singles sets.  Sharks regulars, Sarah Hudson and Rupert Greyling, each won two singles, but both lost in fifth-game deciders to Graham Silversides, who also teamed up with Barry Hammond in the doubles to defeat Sarah and Rupert, in another set that went the distance, whilst Andy King left without a win on the night.

Next week schedules Sasaki against Pumas and Phoenix against Sharks, whilst it is third versus fourth as Avengers host Hasbeens and seventh versus eighth as Spitfires entertain Hawks.

Finally, huge kudos to Chris Welch on his superb updates to the website, to incorporate the Challenge Cup (and other improvements).  Brilliant. :)

Players of the Week : Gerald Ridgway, Andy Pearson.
Team of the Week : Leighton Buzzard Avengers.