The gap at the top of the division remained unchanged after 1st place Soton West A beat 8th place Soton West B 10-0. 2nd
place Waterside A beat 6th place Soton West C 10-0. 3rd place Waterside B lost 6-4 to 5th place Alpha A (Player of the Match Alex Rorke won all 3 for Alpha A). 4th place Generation II beat 7th place
Waterside C 7-3 (Player of the Match Mike Rhodes won all 3 for Generation II).
Soton West F gave it their all against Hedge End A, but lost 10-0.In the first game Lee Rosamond had a 7-1 lead on Plunkett having troubled his oppenent with tricky serves, but lost out 11-9 and in the third leg came back from well down only to lose 11-9 again. John Taylor who was unbeaten on the night added to Plunkett’s treble with his serve and loop drives giving his oppenents all kinds of trouble.Dave Woodacre in only his second start of the season won his three singles having used his fierce forehand to full effect.Pete Humphry gave him a tough battle losing in 4 close sets.Branka was close with Taylor for two sets, but lost the next two sets and that rubber 3-1.Against Plunkett she showed signs of a comeback leading 10-7 in the third leg, but just lost out 15-13.In his final game Taylor was dominent on his own serve v Rosamond and returned serve well enough to take it in straight sets to add to Soton West’ misery.
— Robin.Plunkett
Waterside G see their lead at the top of the division slip to 14 points as they did not play this week. Hedge End B move up to 5th place after a 7-3 victory over 2nd place Four Ts B (Player of the Match Martin Cheffy won 2 for Hedge End B). 8th place Soton West J lost 9-1 to 9th place
Waterside K (Player of the Match Jon Stubbs and Katie Holt won all 3 for Waterside K).
Soton West J vs Waterside K
A very good night for Waterside, with Katie Holt and Jon Stubbs both winning all their matches with a good combination of controlled spin and agressive shots. Felix Gaul out played Trevor Mowle with several high speed top spin rallies, but that was the only success for Southampton West that evening, despite some very close matches. – Trevor Mowle
y A). Simmarians B move up to 9th place after an 8-2 victory over 11th place Four Ts D (Player of the Match Dave Cheeseman and Max Berg won all 3 for Simmarians B). 6th place New Community B beat 12th place Soton West L 6-4 (Player of the Match Mike Harris won all 3 for New Community B).Bruce Merikin gave the league leaders a run for their money all night but man of the match Albert Garcia dominated their much awaited final game of the evening. Waterside N finish the first half of the season undefeated but they are looking over their shoulders at colleagues of L and M who meet in a crunch game next week.
— Bob Davies
won all 3 for Waterside P). Waterside Q move up to 3rd place after a 6-4 victory over 2nd place Waterside O (Player of the Match Siche Qian won 2 for Waterside Q). 6th place Soton West O lost 6-4 to 8th place Waterside S (Player of the Match Ali Mcquay won all 3 for Soton West O).This was quite a remarkable match. After the first 5 games second placed Waterside O seemed to be on top of this match at the half way point winning 4-1 against Waterside Q. However the next two games which were very closely contested proved to be the turning point. First of all, in the doubles, Rob Sills and George Jones lost their first 2 sets but somehow recovered to win in the 5th set.
Then Rob had to play Sue Zanelotti, he lost the first set and then eventually lost the second set 19-21! Then, as in the doubles he won the next 3 sets finally winning 12-10. Next up, Siche Qian beat Tony Huggett in 4 sets, and then Rob had another marathon 5 setter with Kim Webb winning the final set 11-6. This meant that the last match was crucial to either a draw or a win. George Jones lost his first set to Sue, but then came back to win the next 3 sets and clinched a 6-4 win for the Q’s.— Colin French
