Website of the Enniskillen Lawn Tennis Club
Last week saw round 6 of 9 completed at Enniskillen Tennis Club in the Erne Business Equipment Spring League.
This week the Erasers were looking to regain top spot in the group and at the same time wipe out the memory of last weeks first league defeat at the hands of the Staplers. In contrast their opponents tonight, the Punchers, were hoping to pick up where they left off last week following their first league win against the Markers. Starting the stronger it was, perhaps surprisingly, the Punchers who took the early initiative with their number one seeds Daniel Redmond and Heather Guy playing some gutsy tennis and plenty of winners from the back court to win the opening match 10-2 against Donal Burns and Sonja Hateboer. While the Erasers did manage to win two of the remaining mixed doubles, a typically strong performance from the Punchers number four seeds Andrew Sheridan and Catherine Sloan, winning 8-4, meant that it was the Punchers who went into the doubles with a 6 game cushion. With the Erasers looking to up the power factor in the doubles it took another fine performance from the Punchers captain, Daniel, this time partnered by Kevin Corrigan, to ensure the cushion stayed intact. This they duly delivered with a crucial 7-5 victory over Erasers big serving Donal and sub Marshall Coalter ensuring that the Punchers reversed their early season defeat at the hands of the Erasers with a battling 51-45 victory. While the Punchers are still at the bottom of the group a continuation of this new found form could see them become contenders for the second qualifying spot.
In the second match of the night group leaders the Staplers had to fight for every point in securing the minimum 49-47 victory over the nearly men Markers in a tie that was close from start to finish. This was the third week in a row that the Markers have been beaten by the minimum 2 games. While the victory was set up by Staplers captain, Moira McAdam and James Wilson in their 8-4 mixed win over Markers John Reihill and Michelle Kennedy it was the level 3 and 4 seeds who pulled the Staplers through with two closely fought 7-5 victories in the last two matches of the night. These vital wins for Cyril Boyd and Seamus O'Connell in the mens and Lisa Greaves and Gwen Wilson in the ladies, saw the Staplers hold out for a great win in a tie that could have gone either way.
Shocks were the order of the night on Wednesday as the Toners thumped group leaders the Dispensers 57-39 in the first match followed by the even bigger surprise when the Copiers gained their first league win with an impressive and well deserved 52-44 victory over would be contenders, the Binders. With the Dispensers only win of the night coming 7-5 in the level four mixed doubles it was performances across the board that gave the Toners such a clear margin. However, it was at the top end of the draw that the Toners had to fight hardest and no one more so than Martin Sharkey who squeezed a 7-5 victory with Veronica Bogue in the mixed and followed this up with a superb and victory sealing 9-3 win with Derek Elliott over Jimmy Renfrew and Hugh Maguire in the men's doubles.
Witnessing the Dispensers dumped in the opening match, the Binders went into the last match of the night against the winless Copiers hoping to end the week at the head of affairs in group two. However they had not reckoned on a captains performance from Bernie Cornyn as she contributed an amazing 18 game haul with two 9-3 victories against strong opponents in both matches. With Bernie's strong ground strokes gelling easily with Davy Thompson's telling volleys they were able to establish a dominant position early in their mixed doubles match against Innes Redmond and Liz Murphy and give the Copiers the perfect start. Supported by further 7-5 and 8-4 wins for the Copiers in the mixed it was only a rear-guard 9-3 win for the Binders pairing of Brian Donaldson and Michelle Hanna that kept the tie alive. Having seen half-time leads evaporate on a number of previous occasions Bernie's second 9-3 win, this time with Enid Redmond in the ladies doubles, settled the Copiers nerves and ultimately the tie, and even though the Binders managed to win the last two matches of the tie it was simply a case of too little too late.
Standings after week six of nine with the top two to qualify from each group are:
Monday Nights: Staplers 307 games, Erasers 292 , Markers 277, Punchers 276
Wednesday Night: Dispensers 296 games, Toners 296, Binders 285, Copiers 275