Another early season fixture against local opposition from St Philips, this time in the Coventry league. With the benefit of three courts, the first games were underway together, with all three pairings of Mark Currie and David Pugh, Martin Toms and Jonny George, Simon Piercy and Andy Dunn securing a win in 2 games.

The next three netted a further 2 rubbers for Hunters, making the 5 rubbers needed for the match. With the pressure off, St Philips stepped up their game for the final three, taking two of the rubbers to a deciding third game. With Mark and David winning their game 21-17, 21-13, Martin and Jonny weren’t quite able to convert their decider, while Simon and Andy had better luck winning 21-14 in theirs.

Match Score 7-2 to Hunters 2.

 

Hunters 2nds (Coventry league) opened their account with a home fixture against Aerotech Labs 3.

Some shuffling of players were needed due to injuries, but the team were up for the challenge.

Simon Piercy and David Pugh fought a tough match against Aerotech’s first (and strongest) pairing, needing three games to take the rubber for an initial lead. New pairing Pan Dhokia and Martin Toms played well but couldn’t quite edge past the second pairing, only conceding by a respectable 21-23, 17-21. Mark Currie and Andy Dunn made easier work of the third pairing winning comfortably in two.

Rubbers 4, 5 and 6 went a similar way with 2 wins and a loss for Hunters.

Pan and Martin then played the closest of matches, but couldn’t overcome Aerotech, in another close one (18-21, 20-22).

With the match score at 4-3, Hunters needed one more for a win. Andy and Mark took the first leg of their final rubber, meanwhile Simon and David on the next court has fingers crossed that the weight wouldn’t fall on their shoulders to win a decider. As the games progressed, Andy and Mark couldn’t make their efforts count, but Simon and David had a more comfortable game, winning 21-16, 21-16 to clinch the match.

Match result 5-4 win for Hunters 2.