Results

After an extended Christmas and New Year break the qualifying round of the West Somerset Table tennis league restarted as teams look to complete their matches.

First match this week saw Gnomads host Allsorts. For the home team, captain Martin Rant continued his good run of form to score a maximum and secure the player of the match award. Nigel Foster also had an excellent match, scoring 8, with  Derek Mayall adding a further 5 singles points. Gnomads got the better of the doubles with 6 points to give a winning match score of 28.

Allsorts gave a good account of themselves with their scoring led by substitute, Curtis King. With the longest rallies throughout the match, the 8 points scored will underpin Curtis’s averages. Matt Lawrence and Andy Berry scored 3 singles points apiece. Unfortunately Matt was hampered by a very painful back, which affected his score line. A further 3 doubles points brought Allsorts’ score to 17 for the evening.

The ever improving junior Hawks team played their best match to date when they were entertained by Drifters. Star performer for the visitors was Nathaniel Southam with his first ever match maximum, and a well deserved player of the match award. Brother, Alfie Southam, just missed his maximum with 8. Captain, Mark Scyner, suffered a back injury during the match but soldiered on for 7 singles points. With a further 8 points from the doubles Hawks ended the evening with a magnificent 32 points and look to have a promising league future ahead of them.

Drifters played hard throughout the match and made their opponents fight for every set. Liz Fletcher led the way with 6 and was supported by Andrew Miles with 5 and Dave Smith with 3 singles points. With 4 added from the doubles Drifters accumulated a creditable total of 18 points.

Sadly, Shooting Stars will be unable to complete their first round matches due to player injuries and illness. The team have therefore decided to withdraw from this round of the competition and re-enter the league in division 2 in the Spring. To soften the disappointment, Stars were invited by Wiveliscombe to play their arranged match as a friendly. Ben Cooper joined Stars as a singles substitute, and Eamon Farrelly was the doubles specialist for the visitors. Wiveliscombe fielded their regular trio, with John Edbrooke heading the score line with 8, David Woodland adding 6, and Paul Nutkins 5 singles points. With maximum scores in the doubles, Wiveliscombe ended the match as victors with 28 points.

For Shooting Stars, it was Ben Cooper who played a brilliant match, scoring the only maximum of the evening for the player of the match award. Geoff Williams scored 5 and played a very controlled match, making each of his opponents work hard for their points. The final singles point was added by Martin Shoots. The lack of points from the doubles proved to be the main difference between the two teams, but Shooting Stars ended a most enjoyable evening with 15 points.

League Table