Devon U15s v Cornwall

18/11/07

Team:

Luke Bovey, Sam Oldershaw, Simon Brassington, George Joannou, Patrick Slack, Harry Williams.

Rowan Despard, Laura Anson, Rachel Perkins, Hannah Preece, Jennie Higgins, Olivia Marshall.

The Devon v Cornwall match is the one I look forward to the most each season. The Cornwall players and coaches are probably the friendliest that we meet all season. So the atmosphere is always good.

The match however didn’t get off to the best of starts, because just as we were starting to get the first games underway, the fire alarm went off at the University! This put the match about 30 minutes behind.

The singles went very well with the boys winning 5-1 and also the girls winning 5-1. Simon Brassington was true to form and had a three set nail biter. His opponent was Tom Braithwaite. Simon won the first rubber 21-16, but lost the second 23-25. The third deciding rubber was equally close with Simon just losing out 20-22. Sam Oldershaw and Harry Williams both had to play a third set, but fortunately it went their way.

The girls singles wasn’t quite as close as the boys, but Jo Philp of Cornwall was on devastating form beating Rowan 21-12, 21-10. Laura Anson paid tribute to her opponent Imogen Powell after winning 21-15, 21-13. Laura said how much Imogen has improved, as the last time they met in a match, Laura won 21-3, 21-2.

So after the singles Devon was leading 10-2, but our lead didn’t reflect how close some of the games had been.

The doubles saw the boys win 8-1 and the girls win 7-2. Again the score doesn’t reflect how close the games were with 6 going to a third set.

Luke Bovey and Simon Brassington had a fantastic three setter against the Cornwall 1^st pair, winning 22-24, 21-19, 22-20. However the Cornwall 1^st pair managed to beat Sam Oldershaw and Harry Williams after 3 sets to prevent Devon’s boys taking a clean sweep in the doubles.

Some of the girls doubles were equally close, but the main threat came from Cornwall team leader Jo Philp and the ever improving Imogen Powell who took two wins from Rachel Perkins, Hannah Preece and Laura Anson, Olivia Marshall. Rowan Despard and Jennie Higgins managed to prevent the Cornwall pair winning all three by winning 14-21, 21-18, 21-14.

After the doubles the score stood at, 25 to Devon, 5 to Cornwall.

The mixed doubles was again close with three of the six games going to a third set. However, Devon won the mixed 4-2.

So the final score at the end of the match was 29-7 to Devon.

It is a fantastic result. We have now won our first two matches of the season, and can’t wait to play Wiltshire away on the 16^th December.

Although on paper the victory against Cornwall looked easy, Cornwall put up a terrific fight and their team is improving all the time. I look forward to when we meet again next season.

Player of the match is Jennie Higgins. This is for her performance in the doubles. She dominated the net and put the Cornwall girls serves under real pressure. She was always in a position to exploit any weak reply that team mate Rowan Despard forced.

Bring it on Wiltshire, we’re ready.

Steve Duggan.

Devon U15s Lead Coach.