Last Tuesday night saw the opening round of the Cooma Squash
A Grade Autumn Comp. The new 6 teams of 6 players format was fully subscribed
and saw many players rankling at their new-found gradings and keen to prove the
graders wrong. The return of Andrew Nowland to Cooma after more than a decade
spiced up the A1 which has been dominated by Corey Bedingfeild and the Bolton
Twins in his absence.
The A3 match between Craig Wheatley (Mark Kenmir & Co)
and Braden Skinner (Hillross) attracted plenty of interest. Skinner , returning
from a long period of injury enforced absence looked set for a walkover based
on prior form.
Wheatley surprised, taking the first game 9-6 while
Skinner was getting his bearings. Skinner retaliated with a 9 -3 drubbing in
the second setting up a tight 3rd game. Wheatley took a handy lead
in game 3 with his usual selection of unorthodox reverse boasts and
unanticipated drives before Skinner rounded him up to take the game 9-5 after
playing a disciplined game of deep drives. Game 4 looked to swing the other way
with Wheatley again taking an early lead only to before Skinner’s tactical
experience stole the match with a 9-6 finish. The final result of 3-1 to
Skinner didn’t reflect the intense competition on the court.
B Grade
B grade has
got off to a flying start with 9 teams of 4 players. It was great to see new
faces at the courts – particularly younger players Aaron Pottage, Dane
Freimanis and Abby Freimanis. Will be interesting to see if Dane and Abby
follow in the footsteps of their father and grandfather, some of the best
players Cooma has seen.
Ged Mackay
came out with all guns blazing against Larry Maat and won the first, but
Larry’s fitness won out and took the next three games. Tony Sergo rejoined the
comp after a long absence but proved he is a force to be reckoned with by only
conceding 10 points to up-and-coming young player Tim Wassink.
The
Christmas break proved too much for husband and wife Alex and Leanne
Corby. They each went down 3-0 to David
Hogan and fiery Jason Harris conceding 12 points and 13 points respectively.
However everyone will get into their stride as the comp continues.
An
interesting match was held between Darcy Clayton and Eloise Blanchard – another
two of our ever-improving juniors. Darcy took the first two games 9-2,9-4 but
Eloise went into overdrive and won the next three 9-5,9-5,9-6 to win the match.
Was great to
see Narelle Rosewarne back with us but she has not hit her straps yet and found
the going tough against Sue Walters, going down in three.
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