Devon U15s v Avon
20/01/2008
Team:
Luke Bovey, Sam
Oldershaw, Simon Brassington, George Joannou, Patrick Slack, Jack
Langlois.
Rowan Despard,
Laura Anson, Rachel Perkins, Hannah Preece, April Richards, Olivia
Marshall.
This match is the
last for the U15s before we play in the Team Challenge National Finals
in February, so the players really wanted to perform well and use the
match as practice for the Finals.
The boys started
with the boys singles with Luke Bovey up against Bob Tate, and Sam
Oldershaw playing against Kieron Gibbons. Both Luke and Sam put in
solid performances but lost out 17-21, 9-21 and 9-21, 17-21
respectively.
Next up was Simon
Brassington (our three set specialist), and George Joannou. Simon true
to form took his singles to a third game eventually winning 21-13,
13-21, 21-17. George just lost out to Harry Burgess 23-25, 21-23.
Patrick Slack
lost out after a gritty performance but Jack Langlois scored a
valuable point for Devon after winning his singles 21-3, 21-11.
So the boys
singles stood at 4-2 in favour of Avon.
The girls
responded very well to the challenge, with all six of our girls
winning their singles. The Avon girls performed well but they were not
able to cope with the strength and consistency of the Devon girls.
The only worrying
moment was when April Richards pulled a muscle in the top of her arm
during her first game against Sally Mortimer. April losing 18-21.
April refused to give up and after some advice she hit back in the
second game winning 21-11, and won the deciding game 21-8.
So a clean sweep
for the girls winning the singles 6-0.
After all the
singles games the match score stood at 8-4 to Devon.
The boys doubles
was going to be tough after Avon had the upper hand in the singles,
but Luke and Sam teamed up brilliantly to win all three of their
doubles matches which included beating Bob Tate and Kieran Gibbons
21-18, 21-18. Simon and George, Patrick and Jack both secured a win
each making the doubles score 5-4 in favour of Devon.
Match score now
13-8 to Devon.
Next up was the
girls doubles. The Devon girls put in an amazing performance winning
all nine matches in two games. The only Avon pair that came close to
taking a game was Karina Korminer and Becky Cox against Rowan and
Rachel, after the Devon pair relaxed a bit too much in the second game
but finally won it 23-21.
After the Doubles
the score stood at 22-8 to Devon.
The mixed doubles
saw some very close games with Rowan and Luke winning 14-21, 21-19,
23-21 against Rob and Karina.
Laura and Simon
had a comfortable two game victory 21-9, 21-11.
Patrick and
April, George and Hannah both lost out after a close three setter and
Jack and Olivia won theirs 21-17, 21-8.
The game of the
match for me was Sam and Rachel’s mixed. They worked so well as a pair
and of all the mixed pairs, looked the most formidable. They had to
play Kieran and Becky who are two strong players, but Sam and Rachel
started fast and kept the momentum going throughout the whole game,
winning 21-11, 21-11. Rachel was picking off the shuttle at the net in
a way that Gail Emms would be proud of.
Devon won the
mixed 4-2 which made the final match result 26-10 to Devon.
This is our third
win out of three in the league. We now have three matches remaining.
Our next match at home to Gloucester could be our toughest of the
season so far.
For player of the
match it has to be Sam and Rachel because of the way they worked
together in their mixed games.
Steve Duggan.
Devon U15s.
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