Senior County Team
Senior Team Match Report – Somerset 29/3/2009
Last weekend, the Senior Team made its way to Yeovil to play Somerset at the GKN-Westland Sports Centre.
Chris Massey scored our first points with a superb win 21-13, 21-17 against the Somerset 1st man in the singles, and went on, partnered by Martin Taylor to win their match against the corresponding pair in a very tightly fought match, with scores of 21-16, 26-24. Kes Downer, partnering Simon Ellis, lost their first men’s match in three sets, 21-18, 17-21, 12-21, but came through their second match easily, by a winning score of 21-16,21-9.
New partnerships were being tried out in the Ladies’ doubles, with Sally Isaacs and Clare Powell and Vicky Law and Linda Radcliffe. While no wins were recorded, both pairs performed well, with some very tightly fought rallies and final scores in the high teens/lower 20s.
Again, in the mixed, new partnerships were being forged, and with more match play will perform better. However the final result was 3-12 to Somerset, but the team have better hopes for this weekend when we visit St Austell to play Cornwall in the final two matches of the season.
Senior County versus Guernsey – 01/03/2009
The County team made an early start on Saturday 28th February to travel to Guernsey for the away leg of the ties between the two islands. Catching the 6am Red Funnel sailing and driving then to Southampton airport, the team boarded the Dash 400 turbo prop aircraft at 8:30, landing in brilliant sunshine on Guernsey 45 minutes later. After dumping baggage at the hotel, (as well as Chris Massey, who had a virus problem and went to bed straight away to recover!),
The Duke of Normandie Hotel
the team sallied forth into St Peter Port in search of breakfast, which was quickly dealt with!
Breakfast in St Peter Port
The team then split up into small groups and some sailed across to the smaller island of Herm, while others watched football in the hotel and caught up on lost sleep. On Saturday evening, dinner was at the WokWok
Dinner at the WokWok
Chinese restaurant, 2 minutes walk from the hotel, where the squad enjoyed an excellent meal, which was followed by a quick tour of the night spots, and back in time for an early night.
The match on Sunday started at 10am, with Chris Massey winning his singles 24-22, 21-19. A brilliant effort, given that Chris had been feeling very unwell on Saturday. Paul Royl faced stiff oppositionin his singles, finally losing in two very hard fought sets by 21-18, 21-16. We fared less well in the ladies’ singles, Clare Powell and Linda Radcliffe both being beaten by strong opposition. Paul Royl teamed up with Kes Downer in the doubles to win both of their matches, the first by 13-21, 21-13, 21-17 and the second more easily by 21-11, 21-18. Chris Massey teamed up with Martin Taylor as the doubles second string, just losing the first match by 22-20, 21-15, 21-11, and the second match by 21-17, 29-30 – the maximum points for a game!
The ladies’ doubles fared less well, with Sally Isaacs and Clare Powell both suffering from old injuries, and in Clare’s case with a new one picked up from her singles match. Linda Radcliffe and Lauren Blowman put up a feisty performance against superior odds, and they too finally lost out.
The mixed doubles matches were a reflection of the injuries mentioned above, and the results were in line with that fact, with Paul and Sally, Kes and Lauren and Martin and Clare all failing to beat the opposition.
As with the Isle of Wight, it is an expensive matter getting from Guernsey to the rest of their matches with mainland teams, so the team we played at home earlier and lost by 6-9, was a weaker side than we played on Sunday, so the team did well to come out of the tie with the final score being 3-12 to Guernsey. All praise must also go to our players for digging deep into their funds to be able to represent the Island.
The team, modelling their new strip
Senior County versus Devon – 08/02/2009
Top of the table Devon 3 braved the snow and hail to make it on time to the Fairway Complex at Sandown to take on the Island’s Team on Sunday 8th February 2009.
The Island fared reasonably well against tough opposition in the singles events. In the ladies’ singles, Clare Powell and Linda Radcliffe fought hard, with Linda taking her opponent to 20-22 in the first leg, but this was our only success as neither lady could find a way through the Devonian defence. Stuart Isaacs started slowly in his men’s match, losing the first set 15-21. He came back strongly in the second set, winning it 21-16, but after a hard fight in the third set, he finally succumbed to his opponent 21-19. A very creditable performance, which bodes well for the future. Meanwhile, in the first string men’s singles, Chris Massey, currently ranked number 112 in England in singles, fought hard in a tense three-setter to run out the only singles victor in today’s match, by 21-14,18-21, 21-15.
In the men’s doubles, Ian Walder was paired with Kesley Downer, and they swept away the opposition 21-17, 21-17 in a game which was harder than the scores might indicate. They also won their second men’s match by 21-14, 21-16. Paul Royl (captain) was paired with Martin Taylor for the second string men’s matches. Both of their games were extremely hard-fought, with both matches going to three sets. The Islanders finally ran out winners in the first by 24-26, 21-13, 21-13 and in the second by 18-21, 21-17, 21-16.
Mixed fortunes prevailed in the ladies’ doubles, with established pair Ady White and Jane Jackson fighting hard to win their first match in three sets – 21-10, 20-22, 21-9, but losing their second match, also in three sets by 17-21, 24-22, 16-21, the scores being a sign of the fierce competition. Sally Isaacs linked up with Clare Powell in the second string matches, losing their first to a very strong Devon pair by 15-21, 8-21. They came back strongly however, in their second match, beating their opposite numbers by a clear margin – 21-8, 21-15.
At this point, the Islanders were in pole position, leading 7-5. The first string mixed doubles pair Ian Walder and Ady White swept away their opposition quite easily, 21-14, 21-11. Paul Royl and Jane Jackson then got together to defeat their opponents in three hard sets, 21-11, 21-23, 21-17. Finally, Kesley Downer and Sally Isaacs just lost out in three sets to a strong third string pair from Devon – 19-21, 21-18, 17-21. This made the Island the winners by 9 – 6 overall, a fantastic result and a big upset for the league leaders Devon.
Senior County versus Guernsey – 11/1/2009
While the veterans were over in Bournemouth the Isle of Wight County Team were left to play a young team from Guernsey last Sunday at the Fairway complex at Sandown.
The match started well with Paul Royl winning his singles in straight sets and Chris Massey having to fight back after losing the first set 18-21, winning the next two 21-18, 21-19. The strength and determination of Sally Isaacs seemed endless, but wasn’t quite enough as she very narrowly lost her singles. Linda Radcliffe also lost her singles leg to Guernsey. The two ladies, joined by Sandy Dye and Lauren Blowman, put up a good fight against Guernsey’s ladies although they were overpowered in these games.
The men, joined by Martin Taylor and Dom Afonso, won two and lost two of their games, with Martin and Paul narrowly losing in three sets against their opposite numbers. Paul and Sally made light work of their mixed winning in straight sets 22-20, 21-16.
In the mixed doubles, Paul and Sally won their match easily against the Guernsey first pair, while Martin and Lauren came close but were unsuccessful. Finally, in one of the most unconventional mixed games ever seen by the Guernsey side, where Dom spent a lot of the game at the net and Sandy held the rear court, the Island pair managed to fight back from a set down to win the game.
The tie was won by Guernsey 9-6 overall.