Division 2 Roundup - Week 6
Mosquitoes Edge Further Ahead
Week 6 in Division 2 featured win number five out of six for leaders, Woburn Sands Mosquitoes, as they beat Newport Pagnell Lagondas 7-3.
Many of the sets were tightly contested, but Mosquitoes won all three of the five gamers, one each by Andy Jenkins, James Molloy and Rob McPheat, with Rob going on to win all three of his singles, with two singles wins each for Andy & James. The two singles which escaped them were when Tony Ardis beat Andy in four tight games, and Chris Horn defeating James in the last singles of the night. Earlier, Chris and Glen Davison grabbed the doubles against Andy and Rob in four games, with the win moving Mosquitoes seven points clear at the top of the table, whilst Lagondas hold station in fourth spot.
Leighton Buzzards Spitfires moved up from equal second to second outright, following their close 6-4 win against lowly Mursley Hawks, with their trio of Anshuman Pandit, Graham Silversides and Peter Dixon each winning twice in singles, whilst for Hawks, it was one singles win apiece for David Bartlett, Ian Spanswick and Martin Johnson, whilst David and Martin paired up to snatch the doubles against Anshuman and Graham in four games, to complete the scoring. However, that only tells part of the story, as five sets went the full distance, with the remaining five sets all going to four legs, for a total of 45 games on the night. Ian went the closest to adding to his sets won, as he twice lost out in the fifth games, firstly 9-11 against Graham and then 10-12 against Anshuman. The result moved Hawks up from eighth spot to equal seventh.
Sixth placed Milton Keynes Powers moved closer to the teams above them, with a 7-3 win against seventh placed Little Horwood Wooden Tops, who thus recorded their sixth closish defeat in as many matches, and leaves them now in joint seventh place. Kareem Omar and Paul Tompkins each won their three singles for Powers, with Peter Tillotson adding the extra point with a win against Andy Hooper, whilst for Wooden Tops, Bill Higgins and Paul Reynolds each won one singles, as well as teaming up to take the doubles in a close five gamer against Paul and Peter.
The final match of the week, the penultimate week before the one third point of the League season, ended up as a 5-5 draw between equal second placed Open University Shockwaves and fifth placed Greenleys Moghuls. There was a slight reversal of individual fortunes on the night, as prior to this match, Aaron Moore of Moghuls was unbeaten, whilst Yi Cao of Shockwaves was without a win, but it was Yi who had the best evening, individually, as he not only beat Aaron from two games down, but also beat Orrin Edwards and Slava Volokha, for a fine treble in singles, although he and Michael Zhao lost out in the doubles to Aaron and Orrin. Michael had also been unbeaten in singles in his only previous match, but lost twice o the night, to both Aaron and Slava, whilst the final point for Shockwaves came when Charity Wong beat Slava, though she lost out to both Aaron and Orrin. The draw means Shockwaves drop to third spot, whilst Moghuls stay fifth, but are now with one point of Lagondas above them.
League Week 7 will see the bottom two teams in a basement battle, as Hawks host near neighbours, Wooden Tops, whilst it's fourth versus third when Lagondas entertain Shockwaves. In the other two matches, Powers in sixth are visited by the leaders, Mosquitoes and it's fifth versus second as Moghuls take on Spitfires.
Player of the Week : Yi Cao.
Team of the Week : Milton Keynes Powers.