Melbourn won 20-1

The 1sts went into their game against the Uni 2nds as strong favourites to win even with the absence of regular number 1 Matt. That was because of the respective league positions of the sides; our boys and girls were second in the table, but only just and with a game-in-hand that would take them comfortably top if they win it, whilst the Uni 2s were propping up Division 2 with just one win from their previous five matches.

The students were obviously determined not to give us an easy ride though, as Ed Aspelling (4) in particular found. Ed actually won his opening game against the hard working Dougie Dolleymore fairly decisively, but he dropped the second as Dougie’s work rate and retrieving often caught the Melbourn player flat-footed. Fortunately for Ed he got annoyed with himself at this, the frustration well channelled into a step up of level that saw him take the next two with rapidly increasing comfort to triumph 15-9 / 11-15 / 15-11 / 15-3.

First on next door was Mark Oppen (3) against Daniel Jensen. Mark trailed for much of the opening game as he allowed Daniel to set the pace of play. In fact he got so far as game points down, and then came within centimetres of serving out on one of those. Talk about flirting with disaster. Having survived the close call Mark was able to take greater command of the match from then on out. Which allowed the shots to flow. His overhead backhand volley powered down short for a dead nick, the extravagant shot winning the penultimate point of the match, was absolute the pick. Mark’s game scores were 17-15 / 15-6 / 15-7.

Jan Brynjolffssen (5) followed Mark on to Court 1, and obviously regarded his skipper as a template as he also got himself 14-12 down as he found Patrick Nichols ability to move at high speed to retrieve apparently dying balls pesky to deal with. Jan was within a referee’s decision of losing the game 15-12, calling for a let that he hoped would be a stroke on Game Ball, only to find the marker was hedging more towards No Let! *ulp* Eventually given a second chance, Jan forced a breaker which went on-and-on (not helped by both players following each other in serving out!). However Jan finally got it done 21-19, and whilst never absolutely comfortable was always ahead thereafter as he won 21-19 / 15-10 / 15-8.

Kate Bradshaw (2) came off court after her match apologising to opponent Andrew Jeffery and berating herself. Had she lost? No, it turned out she had won 3-0. Kate sets high standards for her performance! What was apparently frustrating her was not closing out the second game as ruthlessly as she would have liked, an 11-0 lead turning into just a 15-12 final game score. But if it wasn’t quite as clean or efficient as she wanted, Kate’s accuracy and springiness of movement were still enough to see her through 15-11 / 15-12 / 15-11.

Last on was Vinod Duraikan (1) against Benj Chester. From the opening exchanges the pattern the match would take was clear – Benj was working very hard, chasing and retrieving, but he was struggling to lay much of a glove on Vinod, who was moving in that unruffled but if you timed it extremely quick way of his, and dropping with typical deadly accuracy. Points were accumulated with a minimum of fuss despite Benj’s efforts as the match moved swiftly onwards, to progress to match ball for Vinod. The Uni player saved the first of these in spectacular style… cutting a millimetre perfect drop into the front right corner from deep in the court. He then somewhat undermined this by immediately serving out… Vinod won 15-7 / 15-8 / 15-8.

Skipper Mark commented about the evening “Even with our number one [Matt Sampson] missing this week and everyone having to move up a position, it was another superb win from the team. Although we are doing really well in the league standing, we mustn't let this distract us. Continuing our excellent levels of play as we head towards the half-way-stage is really all we need to focus on now.”
Melbourn go to Peterborough 3rds on Monday for their next match. They currently trail Division 2 leaders Ely 1sts by 6 points, but have played a game less than the Cathedral City side (108 points from 6 matches compared to 114 from 7).