Squash
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
THE Leeton Soldiers Club spring squash competition has reached the halfway mark, with little separating the teams at the top of the ladder.
The player of the week was Chris Doolin, who is playing his first competition and picking the game up quickly.
His good form continued as he subbed up a grade winning a hard-fought five-game match against Esther Deeves and also beat Simone Bruno to remain undefeated in his own grade.
Doolin's strong performances have enabled Lobs to jump out to a good lead in Tuesday's competition and they continued on their winning way with a 3-1 victory over Drop Shots.
Little separated Doolin and Deeves in a see-sawing contest, but Doolin finished well to take the match when he won the fifth game 9-5.
Danny Boardman is only in his second competition and is improving rapidly.
He remained undefeated when he downed Barry Greatz in four.
Drop Shots captain Col Thompson was leading 2-0 against David Cross,but Cross won the third and fourth games convincingly to take the match into the fifth game.
Thompson regrouped to claim victory by winning the deciding game 9-4.
Drives and Boasts won two matches each with Drives getting home 8-7 on games.
Two of the club's up and coming juniors fought out a high-standard match, with both players covering the court well and retrieving shots out of the back corners.
After dropping the first game 9-10, Hanlon's experience proved to be the difference and he went on to win the next three games.
Bryan Shepley defeated sub Sarah Quinlivan.
Boasts winners were Matt Boots, who finished well to overcome Georgia Jennings in five, and Claire Quinlivan outplayed Rod Tait.
Backhands beat Forehands 9-8 on games after both teams won two matches.
Macauley Harrison won a gruelling five-game match over Rob Johnston, but did it the hard way as he lost the first two games and saved match points in the third game.
Johnston missed opportunities to win the match as costly errors gave Harrison the third game 10-9 and he went on to win in five.
Backhands other winner was Mark Jennings who defeated Rod Harrison.
Forehands victors were Erin Draper, who lost the first two games to Matt Collins, but finished well to win the next two games and won the crucial deciding game 9-7.
Miranda Tait came back from a game down to win a close match over Trish Fletcher.
Handouts are the top team in Thursday's competition, but it is a close contest as only three points separate the top-three teams.
Handouts had to battle hard to secure a 2-1 win over Volleys, with two of the three matches going to five.
Jacob Harrison firmed in favouritism for the club championships after his 3-0 victory over Rob Hanlon.
The score does not indicate how close the match was as it featured great retrieving and plenty of hand outs with Harrison winning 9-6, 10-8, 10-8.
David Middleton outlasted Chris McKay to clinch a see-sawing contest by winning the fifth game 9-3.
Michelle Quinlivan won the first two games against Matt Piper, but could not hold out a fast-finishing Piper who won the last three games 10-8, 9-1, 9-6.
Mark Del Gigante led Hot Shots to a 2-1 win over Smashes when he outplayed sub Macauley Harrison.
He was well supported by Brian O'Leary, who won the fifth game 9-7 to overcome Sarah Quinlivan, but Carol Davidson lost to Jack Quinlivan.
Aces defeated Serves 2-1 with an in form Tony Naimo outplaying David Sarah and Ian Alexander used his lobs and drop shots to beat Ruth Tait.
Serves winner was Greg Horton, who was too strong for Luke Watts.
There is no competition this week as the club championships have started and will continue for the rest of the week.
All finals will be played on Saturday and spectators are welcome with the ladies championship final starting at 3pm to be followed by the men's at its finish.