Cippenham hold off rivals to lift title
Young side show character to win crucial title decider
Cippenham's first team - comprising three junior players - did just enough to hold onto their lead in Division 3 of the Women's British League at the weekend, holding off challengers including Worthing to lift the title.
The team went into the final weekend of the season at Wolverhampton holding a two-point advantage over Worthing having won all five of their matches on the opening weekend.
They managed to consolidate that lead in the first match with a comfortable win over bottom team Graham Spicer, with Rachael Iles and Mia Lakhani both winning their matches, while Anna Piercey lost to Chui-Que Wong but recovered to beat Michelle McGovern.
However, the following two matches proved to be disappointments, with Rachael Iles mysteriously failing to win any of her four encounters, having previously won 12 in a row to that point.
Mia and Anna responded positively to win two matches in both games, however, 4-2 defeats to Greenhouse and Loop Dublin appeared to detail the team's title hopes.
By Saturday evening they'd been leapdrogged by Worthing, with the two teams yet to play each other on the Sunday.
Cippenham bounced back from Saturday's afternoon's setbacks with victory over Colebridge.
Mia beat Lisa Rinnhofer 3-0 and Rachael dispatched Debs Barrow 3-1. Anna then lost to Hanne Pui Yu Chui, but Rachael showed her character to win a tight five-game match against Rinnhofer to put Cippenham 3-1 ahead.
The nerves must have been jangling when Mia lost 11-9 in a deciding game against Chui, but Anna defeated Barrow to secure those all-important points, leaving Cippenham two points behind Worthing heading into the crucial decider.
Cippenham simply had to beat Worthing in their final match to claim the divisional title, however, their opponents had won all bar one of their matches, with their only defeat coming to Cippenham in the first weekend of the season.
Mia Lakhani got Cippenham off to the start they needed, beating Lok Sze Sum 3-1 and this lead was extended when Rachael Iles eased past the experienced Sally Hughes 3-0. Hopes were high as Anna Piercey won the first two games in her clash with Holly Holder, but Holder retrieved the situation and eventually won 3-2.
Luckily for Cippenham, it mattered not as Rachael and Mia beat Sum and Holder 3-0 respectively to hand the team victory and ensure the title was theirs.
Anna led Hughes 2-1 at one stage in the final match, but eventually lost 13-11 in the fifth to make the final score 4-2.
Meanwhile, Cippenham's second team, comprised of more experienced players, managed to move up a place from fourth to third as the final placings in Division 4 were settled.
They won two and lost three of their five matches, but things began very well with a 5-1 win over Jersey - however, it's worth noting the Islanders were hampered by having only two players present.
Mary Heffernan and Sue Hayes won the matches they played, and the solitary loss came when Holly McNamara beat Julie Dean.
Three defeats followed to Youngs (5-1), Ackworth (6-0) and Halton 3rds (4-2).
Julie won twice while Mary grabbed the only other win in this trio of defeats, however, the final match of the season brought some cheer, with Cippenham beating Sutton at Hone 5-1. Mary and Sue both won two games each with Julie faltering by the narrowest of margins in the final set of the side's sole defeat.