Division 2 roundup - week 15 and summary weeks 11-14
Weeks 11-14 saw only a couple of changes in the division over the 4 matches before the Christmas break. MK Powers were the only team in the division to win all their 4 matches, accumulating 27 points in the process and increasing their lead in the division. At the bottom of the division, OU Shockwave lost all their matches over the same period, gaining only 13 points. Just above them, LB Van Hire secured a win, but only amassed 16 pts in their 4 matches. Greenleys Princes achieved the best of the rest, winning 3 of their matches, including a strong 8-2 performance against Little Horwood Wooden Tops. The other 4 teams each won 2 and lost 2 matches, with NP Lagondas and Greenleys Valiants achieving 21 points, Woburn Sands Mosquitoes 20 points and LH Wooden Tops 19 points. This is a very close division, with each team capable of taking points off the others.
The first week of 2025 again demonstrated the competitive nature of this division. LH Wooden Tops drew with Greenleys Valiants, the home team’s 4th draw so far this season. For the home side, Bill Higgins secured a maximum, including a 4-game win over Ricky Jackson who is over 30 places higher in the averages. Andy Hooper and Paul Reynolds each beat Slava Volokha, who finished without a win on the night. For the Valiants, Ricky won his other 2 sets and substitute Arinze Okosieme from Division 4 team Gr Dukes also won 2, beating Andy and Paul in 3 games. Despite his losses in the singles, Slava successfully teamed up with Ricky in the doubles for their first doubles win out of 7 in the season, which crucially helped secure the draw for the away team.
Greenleys Princes continued their good form with an impressive 6-4 win against division leaders MK Powers. Anand Keshav took a maximum, including a 12-10 final game win against top of the averages Andy Pearson. Andy has only lost 3 sets this season, two of them to Anand. He was well backed up by Saravana Kumar with wins against Keith Carrington and Kareem Omar, and a win for Richard Bailey, also against Keith. Andy Pearson beat Saravana and Richard and teamed up with Kareem to win the doubles against Anand and Saravana. Kareem’s win against Richard was his only success on the night, with Keith going winless.
Despite all their sterling efforts this season, winning 48% of points played, OU Shockwave have not achieved great match results and look as though they will make a quick return to division 3 unless their luck changes significantly. This week they played an away match against Woburn Sands Mosquitoes and suffered a 2-8 defeat. Charity Wong was their only winner, beating Andy Jenkins and Glenn Barcham. Rob McPheat took a maximum for the home team, ably supported by 2 wins for each of Andy and Glenn, who also teamed up for a doubles win against Yi Cao and Yifan Liu, neither of whom could manage a singles win on the night.
In the week’s last match, Leighton Buzzard Van Hire played Newport Pagnell Lagondas, who had beaten them in a Cup match the previous week. The away team came away with a 6-4 win. Cristi Hulpan beat Tony Ardis and Glen Davison, losing only to Yongwan Tian. Richard Bailey and Lee Draper beat Tony Ardis, who ended up without a win. For the visitors, Yongwang Tian went away with a maximum, while Glen beat Richard and Lee after losing his opening set in 5 games to Cristi. Yongwang and Glen took a straightforward doubles win against Richard and Cristi.
These results leave Powers top with 91 points, Lagondas 2nd with 83 pts, Mosquitoes 3rd with 80 pts, Valiants and Wooden Tops tied on 75 pts, ahead of Princes with 73 pts, Van Hire with 66 pts and Shockwave with 57 pts. Week 16 sees Lagondas play Princes, Valiants play Van Hire, Powers against Mosquitoes and Shockwave against Wooden Tops.
Performances of Week 15: Bill Higgins and Anand Keshav