Ravenscroft Senior British National League 2013/14 Season

The Ravenscroft table tennis teams experienced a mixed start to their 2013/14 campaign as the action from the 2013/14 British National League got underway this weekend.

Ravenscroft I, competing in Division 1 North find themselves in 6^th position of the 8 strong division following the opening fixtures. As expected, the division is closely contested and despite their league placing, the Guernsey side is only 3 points behind the joint leaders in the form of Drumchapel Glasgow II and Northfield TTC.

The opening clash came against Bristol Table Tennis Academy and the hard fought encounter ended in a stalemate. Olly Langlois (pictured) recorded 2 important wins in this match by defeating Rajan Waterman and the rapidly improving German Christopher Zickert. Phil Ogier added an important straight game win over Thomas Jeffcott and Matt Stubbington recovered brilliantly to defeat Jeffcott in 5 games, having trailed 2-0. Unfortunately for the local side, his fortunes were reversed in the final match of the tie against Waterman, with the Academy player overturning a 2-0 deficit to win 11-9 in the 5^th.

Saturday’s 2^nd match was against joint leaders Drumpchapel Glasgow II and resulted in a narrow 5-3 defeat. Garry Dodd got the side off to a good start with a 4 game win over Daniel Swiatek and Langlois won in the 3^rd match against Andrew Mcfayden in 4 games to give the Sarnian’s the lead again at 2-1. Unfortunately this was the last time that the lead was held as the Scottish side powered through the next 4 matches to open up a match winning 5-2 lead. Stubbington did well to retain focus in the dead rubber where he picked up a 4 game win over Mcfayden, mirroring Langlois’ feat and restricting the margin of defeat to just 1 rubber.

Sunday morning’s encounter with Ormesby II ended favourably with a 5-3 win the outcome. Garry Dodd earned 2 key wins over England number 36 Simon Noutch and Martin Rutter and Langlois was also undefeated in the clash courtesy of 4 game wins over Rutter and top 20 English Woman Karen Shepherd. Ogier was the player to clinch the pivotal 5^th win during his 4 game win over Ormesby’s other top 20 Women, Chloe Whyte.

The final match of the weekend ended in another tough 5-3 defeat against Derwent I. Despite the defeat, there were encouraging signs for the team as Ogier produced his best display of the weekend when he defeated England number 53 Mark Short in a 5 game opener. He followed up with a solid straight game win over England number 100 Richard Smith and was duly given player of the match. Langlois defeated Jack Grant in 4 games and was so close to making it 2 wins when he was edged out in 5 games by Stephen Horsfield in a clash where 3 ends went the full distance. Stubbington also came very close to retrieving a point in the deciding match when he led Grant 2-0. A crucial 3^rd end went Derwent’s way 15-13 and the momentum from this success led Grant on his way to win in 5.

Ravenscroft II find themselves in 3^rd position of Division 4 South & West after the weekend’s matches.

There were no signs of a slow start as they emphatically defeated Horsham Spinners II. Adam Langlois, Liam Robilliard and Paul Hainsworth all won their matches with few problems. Lawrence Stacey did well to defeat Horsham’s number 1 Tony Rowell in 4 tight ends, although he was surprisingly defeated in straight games by Ivan Monderin.

The afternoon clash against Greenhouse IV was a tight match that ended as a 4-4 draw. Robilliard maintained his 100% record with some exceptional table tennis. His wins over Hewley Griffiths and Moshood Awosile put the side in a great position. Hainsworth and Stacey both added important 4 game wins over Greenhouse number 3 Sullivan Morais to ensure that a draw was the minimum result that could be obtained. Hainsworth was up in the last match against Awosile and overturned a 2-1 deficit to force the decider. From 5-2 down at the change of ends, he came back to lead 9-7 and was in a good position to take the win. At 9-9, the Greenhouse player reacted brilliantly to retrieve a net cord and he went on to nick it 11-9 to the disappointment of the Sarnian team.

Sunday morning saw the side bounce back well with a comfortable 6-2 win over Forresters TTC in a clash which saw Langlois and Hainsworth undefeated. Langlois won against Mark Collins and Gary Bonner and Hainsworth defeated Gerry Pugh and Phillip Nicholls. Stacey won an important opener over Collins in 5 games after reversing a 2-1 deficit. Robilliard also did well to defeat Bonner in 4 games, in particular the 4^th end which he won 14-12 from 10-6 down.

The final match of the weekend was against top of the table Portsmouth, who appear to be by far the strongest team in the division. They had won their other matches over the weekend with ease and a tough match was predicted. The result was a narrow 5-3 defeat, however there was not much in it in the end. Ultimately the difference is in Portsmouth number 1 Adam Proszko who is a top 50 English player. His controlled attacking play and pimple backhand defense was too good for Langlois and Stacey whom he defeated in straight games. Robilliard capped off a superb weekend with two 5 game wins over Martin Matuzevicius and James Mason. Hainsworth made no mistake in the dead rubber with Mason as he cruised to a straight games win.

The team’s return to British League action during the weekend of 14^th December.