Bishop's Stortford U19 Squash Team make National FinalsFINALOn Sunday 16th May Bishop's Stortford Juniors created club history when they played in the Final of the National Club Championship Finals held in Nottingham.
They played Leamington
from Warwickshire who have lost in the Junior Final to Pontefract
(Yorkshire) for the last two years.
Leamington boasted a
squad of 3 International Junior Players, the other 2 players in the
squad are also Nationally ranked.
They were:
1.Chris Hall Eng
No 3 Under 17
2.Dean Alder Eng
No 15 Under 19
3.Nick Bradley Eng
No 18 Under 19
4.Emma Beddoes Eng No 1
Under 19
5.Leonie Holt
Eng No 10 Under 19
The Bishop's Stortford
Squad was:
1. Matt Delaney BS
Under 19 Runner-Up
2. Oliver Dixon Eng
No 12 Under 15
3. James MacKay
Herts No 7 Under 17
4. Keeley Peacock
Eng No 4 Under 17
5. Jo Scrivens Cambs
No 2 Under 19
First on was James MacKay
against Nick Bradley, James struggled with nerves losing the first two
games easily however he rallied in the third eventually losing it 9-5.
On the other court Jo
Scrivens started brilliantly and took the first game 9-7 against her
higher rated opponent. Jo lost the next two games 9-1 and 9-5 but
battled back superbly in the fourth game to go 8-4 game ball up.
However Leonie Holt's experience began to tell as Jo tired and came
back to win the game 10-8.
Next on court was Keeley
Peacock against the England Number 1 Emma Beddoes. This time it was
Beddoes who suffered with nerves as Keeley pressured her opponent into
silly mistakes. Keeley raced to 7-3 up and talk of a shock result were
being whispered amongst the excited Stortford crowd of 20 who had
travelled up to Nottingham to support the team.
Beddoes suddenly stepped
up a gear and won the game 9-7 playing precise dropshots. The next two
games were won 9-0 and 9-1 by the England Number 1 after having a
nasty shock and realised she was in a match. Well done to Keeley.
On the other court
Stortford Number 1 Matt Delaney was involved in a hard hitting match
with his opponent Chris Hall who is an England Junior International
player. Matt played with guts as he rallied with his superior
opponent. Some of the squash Matt played was excellent with tight
drives to the back of the court and exquisite boast shots above the
tin but Hall retrieved them all with ease until a tired Matt started
to make unforced errors. Matt
lost 3-0 in just under 20 minutes and was absolutely exhausted such
was the effort he had put in.
Finally it was Oliver
Dixon onto court against Dean Alder who is 4 years older that him and
ranked 15 in the Under 19 National rankings.
Once Oliver settled his
nerves he played a patient and mature game driving the ball to the
back and moving his older opponent around the court when the
opportunity arose.
Alder realised he was in
a game and had no time to show-boat however his deceptive holding of
the shot caused Oliver great problems.
Oliver lost 9-2 9-0 9-4
in 29 minutes.
His behaviour was
exemplary in defeat as was the rest of the squad, a squad that
Bishop's Stortford Squash Club can be very proud of.
Well done to them all.
Thanks to all of the parents and supporters who drove up to watch.
Jason Foster
BSSC Manager
01279 652897
07941 274532
SEMI-FINALSCongratulations to the Bishop's Stortford Squash Club U19 Junior team of Matt Delaney, Oliver Dixon, James MacKay, Keeley Peacock and Jo Scrivens who created club history today by beating Redwood Lodge Squash Club from Bristol 3-2 to reach the National Club Final. This is a fantastic achievement not only for the players but to everyone involved with junior squash at Bishop's Stortford Squash Club. Although expected to be a close match, Redwood Lodge started as favourites to win this tie with a very strong trio of boys. After home player Jo Scrivens won her match comfortably 3-0, James Mackay made an impressive start taking a 1-0 lead only to see his grasp of the match slip away as the stronger Redwood boy won the next 3 games to win the rubber. Keeley Peacock allowed her opponent no quarter as she briskly disposed of her opponent 3-0. Meanwhile, the tie of the match was between home player Oliver Dixon and Dan West from the Bristol Club. Dan took an early lead winning the first game comfortably, but Oliver pulled back in a long and hard fought second game, only to lose the third. In the fourth game Oliver raced to a 9-3 win and then won the fifth in style against an exhausted opponent, to the applause of the home crowd. On the other court, number one string Matt Delaney fought hard but lost his match 0-3 against a very impressive opponent.
The Final will be held at the highly acclaimed
Nottingham Squash Club next Sunday 16th May at 2pm. For
anyone who wants to come along to support the team,
please contact the club manager Jason
Foster at the club on 01279 652897.
Next weeks event also stages all the other senior National Club
Finals.
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