Enniskillen club tennis players have now completed 7 rounds of 9 in this years Erne Business Equipment Spring League and while qualification places for the semi finals look wide open in Wednesday night’s group both the Staples and the Erasers took decisive steps towards securing the two Monday night places with convincing victories over the Punchers and the Markers respectively.
Monday Night
In control from the very start the Staplers brought the Punchers recent run of victories crashing to the canvas with a 57-39 victory. Even without Dominic Burns at number one the Staplers had too much strength in depth for the Punchers and with Ita Hughes showing the way from the front with a powerful 18 game contribution ably supported by her team captain Moira McAdam’s 14 game haul the Punchers only respite came at the lower end of the draw where Catherine Sloan managed a credible 15 games in her two victories.
Trying to stay attached to the Staplers at the top of the group were the Erasers who needed to wipe out the memory of their last two defeats and get back on the winning trail against group strugglers the Markers. The last time these two teams met the Markers did manage to hold the Erasers to a tight 49-47 result but there was to be no repeat as the Erasers romped home with an easy 59-37 win to set up next weeks showdown with the Staplers. While every member of the Erasers managed at least one victory it was the men who raised the bar highest with Donal Burns and Clive Funston, back together after recent injuries, heavily outscoring Paul Lendrum and John Reihill followed by Stephen Kettyles playing massive tennis in both his matches. Showing a deft touch at the net for a big man and , to the growing frustration of his opponents, matching this with superb retrieval skills throughout, Stephen went on to deservedly win both his matches, 8-4 in the mixed partnered by Sandra Parker and 9-3 in the men’s partnered by Iain Kennedy.
Wednesday Night
Matters are altogether closer in the Wednesday night group and following an excellent 53-43 victory for the Copiers over the Toners combined with a hard fought 48-48 tie between the Binders and the Dispensers it is still a realistic ambition, with only 2 rounds remaining, for any of the 4 teams in the group to still qualify for the semis.
Needing a decent margin of victory to get into the semis shake-up, the Copiers did all the damage in the mixed doubles winning all four matches by a total of 10 games. Best of these was an 8-4 win for Davy Thompson and Bernie Cornyn over the strong pairing of Derek Elliott and Heather Boles with all four players contributing to an excellent match. Even though the remaining mixed doubles all finished in tight 7-5 battles it was the Copiers ability on the night to come out on top in these close battles which earned them the half way breathing space. The Toners didn’t give up and while they managed to win two of the four doubles matches it was not enough to catch the Copiers who held on to their 10 game cushion in a 53-43 victory. Best for the Copiers was the heavy serving Kieran Hannan, now adding that elusive consistency to his always powerful range of shots, along with the evergreen Davy Thompson, with both players bringing in valuable 15 game returns.
This group threw up yet another tight encounter as group leaders the Dispensers just managed to claw back the Binders 4 game halfway lead to draw the tie 48 games apiece. With both teams evenly matched it was the level 1 and 2 seeds who put the Binders in front as Innes Redmond and Liz Murphy fought out a 7-5 win over Jimmy Renfrew and Helen Cooper followed in by Binders captain Sean Bogue and partner Brenda Davis winning their match against Hugh Maguire and Ruth Armstrong also 7-5. The Binders lead remained intact thru the next five matches and it was left to the Dispensers captain Helen and her ladies partner Ruth to rescue the tie with a well deserved 8-4 win over Liz and Brenda. This narrow win keeps the Dispensers in pole position at the top of the group.
Standings after week seven of nine with the top two to qualify from each group are:
Monday Nights: Staplers 364 games, Erasers 351 , Punchers 315, Markers 314
Wednesday Night: Dispensers 344 games, Toners 339, Binders 333, Copiers 328
