Mursley Swallows 3-7 Open University Primes

Published 02/04/2025 09:03 by Martin Johnson.

Mursley Swallows hosted the runaway leaders, Open University Primes, and unlike last week's match vs MK Classics, Swallows managed to get on the scoresheet straight away, as Martin Johnson did just enough to edge through against Charles Tien in four games, despite his hitting being a little inconsistent. However, Primes were in no mood to spoil their winning record, and Patrick Wong won in straight games, despite Peter Sear pushing him close in the third leg, to even it up at 1-1. Mursley reserve, David Bartlett soon found himself two legs down to Charity Wong, but managed to pull level, however Charity found another gear in the deciding leg, to win well, to put her team 2-1 up. She then teamed up with Patrick in the Doubles, and Primes made it 11 consecutive wins in Doubles, coming through in four games against Peter/Martin. Swallows looked to be pulling a set back, as Peter comfortably lead Charles by two legs to nil, and was 10-3 up in the third, with seven set points, however, suddenly Charles found some good serves, a few good hits and more consistency, whilst Peter's attacks started missing, and an amazing comeback saw Charles go on to take it deuce, followed by deuce and 11-9 in legs 4 and 5, to leave Peter wondering how he could have lost? With Primes 4-1 up, again Swallows looked like potentially adding to another set to their score, as Martin took his game with Charity to a decider, but once again, Charity upped her standard, and 5-0 up at the change of ends, held on to put Primes 5-1 ahead. Patrick then made short work of David, to make it 6-1, and ensure Primes 11th consectutive match win. Charity completed her maximum, beating Peter in straight games, although legs 1 and 2 were very close, but yet again, she proved stronger at the finish. It was looking like another big win on the cards for Primes, but David then played an excellent set to beat Charles over four legs, to reduce the margin to 7-2. Last set up was Patrick versus Martin, with Patrick having now won 25 in a row since his last loss in the division, coincidentally a deuce in the fifth loss when he last played Martin, fully two months previously. Martin's hitting started to find its range as he won a close opening game, and it went up another a level and he also comfortably took game 2. A tactical talk with his Primes colleagues, and Patrick edged through the 3rd leg to give himself a chance. However, Martin raised his game yet again, hitting everything, and powered through to win in four games against a shell-shocked Patrick, to leave the final score at 7-3 to Primes.

Merry Christmas / Happy New Year.