Melbourn Squash Club’s first team overcome Cambridge Squash League Division 1 basement side Ely
Melbourn Squash Club’s first team picked up a maximum 20-point haul in their Cambridge Squash League Division 1 clash with bottom side Ely last Wednesday.
Melbourn approached the fixture in determined fashion after suffering a series of frustratingly narrow losses in recent weeks, each by three strings to two.
However, that was reversed in this fixture as both Vinod Duraikan (3) and Miles Jeanneret (4) ended on the right side of encounters that went the distance, Duraikan winning his in a fifth-string tie-break, while Jeanneret found a second wind in his deciding game after being pegged back from 2-0 up.
Either side of those Melbourn picked up comprehensive wins as Marrk Oppen (5) cruised away from his opponent to win 3-0, while Chris Shaw (2) was always in control of his match as he won all three of his games 11-3.
Matt Sampson completed the whitewash with another 3-0 win, taking two games by comfortable scorelines before wrapping things up in a game three tie-break to nip any comeback in the bud.
Meanwhile, Melbourn II were overtaken at the summit of Division 3 for the first time in a number of weeks after they were beaten 17-6 by Cambridge III in a top-of-the-table clash.
Matt Walker (5) got Melbourn on the board early with a 3-0 win after he dealt with the attacking angles of Sanjay Porja to control the front wall and bring his deadly volley-drop into play.
Nevertheless, Cambridge struck back as Melbourn skipper Colm O’Gorman (4) was beaten 3-1 by Gift Nuka in an encounter that pitted two fit, defensively-minded players against each other.
Gareth Jones (3) had an epic match with Ben Knappett that went the full distance, Jones stepping things up after a scrappy opening game to take the second and fourth.
Key errors at the start of the fifth proved costly for Jones, and despite his late attempts to come back, he lost 3-2.
That was the end of games for Melbourn on the night, though Liam Murphy (1) came close to claiming another point for the visitors in a eye-catching encounter at top string.
For two games the squash was of an extremely high level, but each time Cambridge’s Alex Holland edged home, including an extended tie-break in the second. Deflated and worn out, Murphy subsided in the third.
Jan Brynjolffssen (2) never really got going in his match as he struggled with injury niggles that hampered his movement. Game scores were reasonably tight but James Buckley always had the edge and won 3-0.
