Pennant race goes to the final individual tie
The Te Awamutu men’s C team snatched glory at last chance
The Te Awamutu Squash Club’s men’s teams were looking to finish the competition season strongly, with three out of six teams (A, B and C) once again securing division finals at the end of the Spring Interclub Pennant.
Despite some strong match-ups and close encounters, the only team to triumph were the men’s C team, who had to pull out all stops in a nailbiting finals clash with the secondseeded Cambridge men’s team.
Having finished top of the table at the end of the round-robin competition, the men’s C team still had plenty to play for as they entered a threeround Swiss draw playoff to secure their finals spot in a tightly contested division.
With some close calls and a bit of luck, the team were able to secure a home advantage for the finals showdown against the well-matched Cambridge team, to whom they had lost in their one and only previous encounter.
Keen to get his team off to a good start, fourth seed James Dunn was first up in an epic back-and-forth, fiveset battle. Despite his best efforts in a very tight contest, James eventually lost 2/3, leaving the team 0-1 down.
Next up was third seed Gregg Tickelpenny, who rallied strongly to find himself 18/16 ahead in the first game of his first final since returning to the sport.
Nevertheless, the higher-graded Tim Pevreal came back strongly to close out the match 1/3, leaving the men’s C team’s hopes of a finals win looking very unlikely heading into the third match of the contest.
Not to be deterred, second seed Aisha Ross pulled out all stops to secure his 3/2 match win in another incredible back-and-forth, five-set battle to provide the team with some hope for a comeback, heading into the final match 1-2 down.
Having opened the door to a team victory, top seed Ivan Liddle needed to not only secure an individual win, but do so in 3/1 or better to have any chance of claiming a team win outright or by point countback. Not an easy feat against a well-matched Cambridge opposition.
Nevertheless, Ivan was able to achieve the unthinkable, putting in a dominant performance to claim a 3-0 individual match win to snatch a team victory in this rollercoaster of a final.
It was a real team effort, from a team whose non-playing reserves supported by providing dinner and inspiration from the sidelines.