Blake’s of ‘the Hollow’ 125 Years Celebration Spring Tennis League
Monday Night
Having lost their lead to the Perfect Pints last week the Chardonnays were under pressure to at least equal their rivals game score in this week’s penultimate group matches to keep their hopes of topping the pool alive. Things did not start well as they had to sit and watch the Perfect Pints score a convincing 53-43 victory over Moira McAdam’s Serving Aces. Perfect Pint of the night was Reggie Ferguson bringing in 16 points with fellow Pints JR Dundas and Josie Boyle scoring the match winning victory over Conor McShea and Moira McAdam. With most games going to deuce it became a matter of who could win the last point first and Moira and Conor can count themselves unlucky to have lost out 9-3.
It was then the turn of Ollie McShea’s Chardonnays who were eager to bring their recent losing streak to an end against Matt Dillon’s Pool Sharks who themselves were desperate to record their first win of the league. However there were no surprises in the mixed as the Chardonnays won three out of four to lead 28-20 at the halfway stage with only Matt Dillon and Lisa Greaves keeping up appearances matching the Chardonnays in a 6-6 battle with Vanessa McBrien and Martin Hamblin. Jimmy Renfrew and Kevin Burns did give the Pool Sharks a glimmer of hope as they reeled in an 8-4 win in the first men’s doubles match but the Chardonnays didn’t panic winning the remaining three doubles 7-5. This gave the Chardonnays a 53-43 win and leaves them still 2 games behind the Perfect Pints going into next weeks final round of group games.
Wednesday Night
Any doubts about who would qualify from Wednesday’s group were finally closed out when both Iain Kennedy’s Irish Coffees and Martin Sharkey’s Level 7 secured strong victories to leave only pool winning bragging rights to be decided next week. The Cocktail Knights, going down 39-57, were this weeks biggest losers, finding the Coffee rush too hot to handle, managing only one win through their classy doubles pairing of John Griffin and Nicholas Hambly. As has often been the Irish Coffees trademark it was the level three and four seeding’s who carried the day with Iain Kennedy, Martin Dillon and Joy Fletcher all blending well to secure valuable wins and helping the Irish Coffees move 12 clear at the top.
The night’s second match started well for the underdogs Snug Bugs as Scott Gilbride and Liz Murphy put together a combination of forceful baseline hitting and strong net coverage to outmanoeuvre Level 7 captain Martin Sharkey and Andrea Crawford. This however proved to be a false dawn as Level 7 shifted up a gear taking all three remaining mixed matches to lead by eight games at the halfway stage. While Martin partnered by Matthew Duffy managed to win the men’s rematch against Scott and Daire Dillon it was Andrea’s 8-4 victory partnered by Michelle Kennedy against Liz and Helen Cooper that ensured the 55-41 margin of victory keeping Level 7 in with a shout for top slot in next weeks final round of group matches.
Standings after week eight of nine with the top two to qualify from each night are:
Monday Nights: Perfect Pints 406 games, Chardonnays 404 , Serving Aces 379, Pool Sharks 347
Wednesday Night: Irish Coffees 412 games, Level7 400, Snug Bugs 364, Cocktail Knights 360
