Thunder win squash

Three rounds of squash finals have been conducted over the past week with all finals close and an outstanding grand final.

In the elimination final, the Thunder defeated the Renegades. The key match was between top players Andrew Holden and Luke Peter who produced the highlight of the evening.

The pressure was on Luke to win without dropping a game, but Andrew prevailed in three hard-fought sets to move the Thunder into the preliminary finals.

The qualification final was also decided on the last match.

Keith Morris won his match against veteran Steve Andrews to give the Hurricanes a good start.

Michael McKay has dominated level three this season to overpower Tom Ciz, who was filling in for the Hurricanes. Michael then filled in for the Royals level two player and dominated that match as well to give the Royals a 2-1 lead.

The final match saw the welcome return of top player Mike Griffith after a long lay-off with a serious injury.

It was a triumphant return for Mike who proved too strong for his opponent, Steve Mooney, but was still not sufficient to secure a win for his team.

The first preliminary final between the Thunder and the Royals was another fine contest decided by the level one players.

With the Royals' significant lead going into that match, Andrew Holden had to win in three sets and concede no more than 24 points for the Thunder to proceed to the grand final.

He was able to do that with eight points to spare in a dominant display of top-quality squash.

In the other preliminary final the Heat, who finished on top of the ladder, were bundled out by the Hurricanes with Mike Griffith again displaying his rapid return to top form.

After his team constructed a 2-1 lead he only had to win a game to put the Hurricanes through to the grand final.

In the end, without conceding a game, he proved too strong for David Winterton, who has had a good season.

People who witnessed the grand final said it was one of the best in years.

Three matches went to the full five sets and, again, the final outcome rested with the top players.

Justin Duffy, who has been unbeatable throughout the season, got the Thunder off to an excellent start by defeating the rapidly improving Keith Morris in three sets.

This proved to be a critical advantage as the night progressed and, as a result, he won the "player of the grand final" award.

Long-standing rivals Jeff Lyon and Russell Jackson were next on court with Russell taking out their usual five-set encounter after trailing one game to two. The Hurricanes were back into the rubber.

Next were Wayne Hewitt and Daniel Meyer who were ranked similarly, so a close match was expected, and so it turned out to be. With only three points deciding the match neither player deserved to lose.

However, Wayne finally prevailed after the momentum was against him going into the final game.

This gave the Thunder a 2-1 lead and a significant advantage as Mike Griffith had to beat Andrew Holden in three sets for the Hurricanes to take out the premiership.

He got off to a flying start, winning the first set 15-11, but the Hurricanes' hopes were dashed when Andrew managed to turn the tables in the second set 15-13.

Andrew won the third 15-11, but Mike was not done yet and evened the score 15-10 in the fourth.

Finally, in what was one of the best matches in recent competitions, Andrew emerged victor after a 15-11 final set win.

For his classy and determined wins in all finals matches and ensuring his team, Thunder, won the title, Andrew was named "player of the finals".

In other trophies for the season, new player Tom Ciz took out both the "most improved" and "most consistent" awards.

Grading for the winter competition takes place on Thursday, June 15.

All prospective players should attend. If unable to do so, contact Dave on 0408 577 398.