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 6th 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 5th.
Saturday’s 2nd
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 3rd 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 5th 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 3rd 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 3rd 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 4th 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 14th December.