The final fixtures of the Doric Insurance sponsored senior leagues were concluded this week with the final 2 Divisional titles claimed.
The culmination of the senior leagues resulted in a huge success for the Lions table tennis club, who won all 4 Divisions up for grabs.
This impressive feat has not been done for over 20 years as it was also the Lions table tennis club that last accomplished this in the 2001/2002 season.
Lions C expectedly did enough in the final fixture of the season to ensure they were crowned champions. They were however pushed hard by a 6th placed Lions B side and edged over the line 6-4. The defeated side contained the overall averages winner Ben Foss, who had another assured evening of singles matches. He defeated Joshua Butler, Liam Robilliard and Matthew Stubbington without dropping a set and finished the season with just 4 losses to his name from the 57 individual matches played. Jamie Ferbrache has also had a strong season and has earned himself a spot in the Over 40's Inter-Insular team to face off against Jersey next month in the process. He competed well in all singles matches against the champions and earned himself an excellent 4 set win over Stubbington. The champions did however each earn singles wins against Chloe Le Tissier, as well as Butler's 4 set win over Febrache and Robilliard's straight sets win against Ferbrache. As with many matches this season the doubles rubber proved to be a decisive game in determining the destination of the points. Foss and Le Tissier were looked good whilst leading Robilliard and Stubbington 2-1, however the champions roared back to take the final 2 ends 11-5, 11-8 and finish the season with a win and the title.
Whistlers B's strong finish to the season was rewarded with a runners-up spot after they earned a narrow 6-4 win over their A side. They had been outside the top 2 spots for the large majority of the season, but moved back into 2nd spot last week following a strong run of 7 wins from the last 8 played and they made it 8 out of 9 this week due to their victory. Joshua Stacey has been a key piece of the puzzle for the team during this strong run of form as he has lost just the one singles match during this period and looking further down the line, has won 29 of his last 30 singles matches. He was again pivotal in this fixture as his three singles wins also enabled him to clinch 3rd spot in the averages ahead of his twin Lawrence. It is a fairly rare occurrence when matches between the two are one-sided and once more this proved to be a battle. Lawrence had the upper hand when he sealed a tight 3rd end 13-11 to lead 2-1 and it was closely contested in the following end too. Joshua however showed his strong form and confidence and edged through 12-10 before sealing the deal 11-8 in the decider. His other singles wins against Ben Sharp and reserve Martin Sarre came in straight and 4 sets respectively. Another player who has seen stronger form in the latter part of the season is Matthew Casey. This was not his strongest evening of late, however he did still manage to earn an important 4 set win over Sarre. He lost comfortably to Lawrence in straight sets before suffering a surprise 5 set defeat to Sharp in the one of the final matches of the night. The team has had a habit of all chipping in with victories on a weekly basis and this was the case again here when Joseph Bourgaize got the better of Sarre in 4 sets. It all came down to the doubles rubber and it was Joshua and Casey that came through comfortably in straight sets against Lawrence and Sharp.
Whistlers C had been the front runners for the large majority of the season as they had led for 13 consecutive weeks from the 5th week onwards. They were unlucky to have key players missing for important matches during the final few matches of the season and this was a part to play in them missing out on the top 2 spots. This also happened to be the case in this final match of the season as Dawn Morgan was missing and they fell to a 5-5 draw against a weakened 7th placed Lions E side that was missing their lead player Ryan Bichard. Alice Edwards did all she could on the night as the averages runner-up was in strong form during singles wins against Sam Clark, Steve Ozanne and reserve Nye Matthew. She also combined with Mark Pipet to win the doubles against Clark and Ozanne in 4 sets. 2nd Division reserve Craig Dunning earned himself an impressive straight sets scalp of Ozanne, however the Whistlers side could not find a 6th rubber. Pipet has had a solid season, however he experienced only his 3 winless evening of singles action all season here. Matthew was in superb form and won in straight sets, Ozanne won in 4 sets and Clark showed great mettle to battle back from 2-0 down to win over the full 5 set distance. Clark was involved in another tough tussle with Dunning and fought back here too from 2-1 down to win in 5 sets, whilst Matthew earned the other win over Dunning in straight sets.
Lions A finished the season strongly with a 7-3 win over the side to finish bottom of the table, Lions D. Phil Ogier finished the season well with a trio of straight sets singles wins against Paul Hainsworth, Andy Gill and Charlotte Casey. Jez Powell had to dig deep against left-handed Gill who was playing some super topspin strokes off both wings. Gill had led 2-1 before Powell weathered the storm and won the final 2 ends relatively comfortably. He also earned a 4 set singles win over Casey and combined with Ogier to win a very competitive and entertaining doubles match over Gill and Casey in 5 sets. 2nd Division youngster James Crocker was reserving and he acquitted himself well in all matches. Despite losing to Hainsworth and Gill in straight sets, he competed well. He went one better in his opening salvo as he earned a nice 4 set win over Casey. The remaining match of the night saw Hainsworth pick up his second win of the night against Powell in 3 very tight sets.
With the title long sealed a few weeks back by Lions F, the only thing left to settle was who finished runner-up in the averages. Kay Chivers was in pole position for league runners-up Whistlers D heading into their clash with the champions and made no mistakes. Her rival to the averages was Caden Brouard from the Lions side, however he was absent, leaving her with a defined task of needing to win just 1 singles match on the night. She did that and then some as she played some of her best table tennis of the season which included a very impressive 5 set win over averages winner Matthew in only his second singles defeat all season. Her other wins came against Connor Powell in 4 sets and Division 3 reserve Ian Le Page in straight sets. Her strong evening resonated in her team's consolation 7-3 victory over the champions, only their second loss throughout.
The final Division that was in the balance heading into the final week was sealed courtesy of a nervy 8-2 win for Lions I over St Pauls B in a fixture where the result does not tell the whole story. The first two close matches set the tone and crucially the champions won both. Youngster Cameron Powell was up first and needed to keep his head to overcome the tricky Brian Le Cras over the distance, whilst averages runner-up Steve Potter kept the momentum with the champions when he beat John Wills by the same score. Tom Ruff who became part of the 4-man team during the latter stages of the season then beat Rob Ville comfortably in straight sets and Potter beat Le Cras in straight sets. That left just one more win to seal the title due to a superior games ratio than their nearest opposition and this was put on hold when Vile and Wills earned themselves a dramatic 5 set win over Potter and Ruff. Vile kept the champagne on ice when he beat Powell in straight sets however the cool head of Ruff saw it out when he beat Wills in straight sets in the next match and they proceeded to also mop up the remaining 3 matches. Jenny Powell is the 4th player in the team and she had a great season which included wins in over 40% of her singles matches, in a move up from the 4th Division last time out.
Becks O'Keefe was the averages winner as she incredibly went the season unbeaten. She was in the Ravenscroft Panthers C team that finished runners-up in the Division which also contained Juliette Yeaman and Vikki Stacey.
Last but not least was the outcome of who finished runner-up in the league and also who secured the averages honours.
The league runners-up ended out to be Ravenscroft Panthers F who crept in unnoticed to pinch it on the final night. They had been in third spot for the majority of the season, however they pipped Lions L to second spot by 1 point due to a win on the final night and a defeat for the Lions side against champions Lions O.
The team of youngsters Barnaby Groves, Albie Lihou, Micah Cohen and Indy Tostevin have shown excellent promise throughout the season and their results and standards have increased across the season. All players ended the season having won over 70% of their singles matches.
The battle for the averages turned out to be the most dramatic finish of them all across all 4 Divisions. Alex Paul had been top of the averages for the entire season and had lost just 1 of his preceding 45 singles matches and this was only in the prior fixture to Lihou after an unbeaten 42 singles wins to start, however he had a very tough test in the final night of the season against the champions. The equation was relatively simple, if he won 2 matches he would top the averages, however if he were to win 1 or less, he could be pipped at the post. He started well by defeating the rapidly improving youngster Luke Evans in 4 sets, but then came unstuck. His next match came against the one person who could now dethrone him, Andy Ozanne and this was only if Andy and son Aiden both beat him and Andy won his other singles matches too. The first 2 ends were shared 12-10, however Ozanne has been very strong in his debut season in the Doric Insurance sponsored senior leagues and he won the next 2 ends 11-6, 11-8 to keep it alive. The final encounter of the night saw Aiden in inspired form as he won in straight sets. Such was the closeness, Aiden himself only missed out on runners-up spot by a single match. Had Evans beaten Paul then Aiden would have taken the runners-up plaudits.
Island Championships 2022-2023
