Round eight of the Autumn league

Round eight of the Autumn league sponsored by Pat’s Bar & Grill took place at Enniskillen Tennis Club last week. The Night Owls turned in a spectacular first half display against the Carvery Cuts with four good wins led by their captain Marius Blake partnered by Anne Smyth followed quickly by another good victory by Cormac Jordan and Corrie Cadden. Luke Todd and Kate McManus enjoyed a narrow win over the improving Paul Carron and Jenny Cruikshank. The momentum continued for the Owls in the second round of matches with Davy Thompson and Marius Blake taking a closely fought match against Jerome Nicolle and Alex Knowles 7-5. Although Linda Corrigan and Josie Gillen and the pairing of Seamus O’Connell and Paul Carron carved out two good draws for the Carvery Cuts, this proved insufficient and the Owls soared high on the night winning 58-38.

The other Monday night match was between the Backbar Baseliners and Midtown Magic. Only four points separated the teams at the halfway stage with the Magicians holding the advantage. The match between Joshua Hanna and Jenny Kelly and Paul Lendrum and Liz McGuinness (Baseliners) proved the pick of them. It was nip and tuck all the way and with plenty of hardhitting baseline rallies, few could argue with the resulting 6-6 draw. In the second leg, a strong showing from Bennie Sheridan and Nadine Stewart put the Magicians in an even stronger position. However, Liz Murphy and Liz McGuinness continued their fine run of form for the Baseliners with an 8-4 win over Lisa Greaves and Jenny Kelly. With the Baseliners now only two points adrift with the final match still on court, the match was becoming increasingly difficult to call. Hard as Reggie Ferguson and Euan Gebler (Magicians) fought, they could not peg back Steven Ringland and Claude Bersot who took the match 7-5 and a 48 point draw was perhaps the most fitting result of all.

Wednesday night’s matches started off with the Galaxy Hotshots taking on the Diamond Aces. Another fine win once again for Martin Hamblin and Bernie Hall gave the Diamonds the cutting edge in the first leg. This result put the Diamond Aces six points in front at the half way stage. Hugh Maguire and Brendan Duffy had a great tussle with Innes Redmond and Martin Hamblin in the second leg. Hitting some of his trademark crosscourt backhand drives, Innes looked to be heading for the win, but the fighting qualities of Hugh and Brendan were in evidence and they fought back bravely for the 6-6 draw. Two good wins for the Diamond Aces by Maxine Leary and Bernie Hall and Joy Fletcher and Hazel Dineen sealed the win for the Diamonds 55-44.

The second series of matches was between the Earlybird Baps and the Townhall Towers. The key pairings of JR Dundas and Janet Love and Brian Donaldson and Heather Williams put the Towers in a formidable position at the half-way stage. Brian was to the fore again in his second match when partnering Johnny Guette he clinched another ten points for his team. Although Anne Mooney and Yvonne Masterson got a couple of points back for the Earlybirds with a 7-5 win over Heather Williams and Roisin O’Connell, it was not nearly enough and Townhall Towers stood tall at the end of the night claiming a 56-40 victory .

With one more round to go, before the semi-finals, it looks like the Night Owls and the Backbar Baselines are in pole position from the Monday night teams. However, all is still up for grabs on the Wednesday night with only twelve points separating the first three teams with the top two going through to the semi-finals.