Embedded Files
Senior
League: National C (6)
Players:
Alex Robinson, Josh Stacey, Lawrence Stacey, Ben Foss, Ryan Bichard, Jamie Ferbrache, Matt Casey, Sam Clark, Kenedy Chepkor, Mark Fallaize
Junior Girls
Guernsey A
League:
Division 5
Players:
Keira Eldridge, Olivia Gilbert, Thea Cummins
Guernsey B
League:
Division 5
Players:
Isla Bretel, Ella Le Ber, Emily Gavey
Veterans Men
Guernsey 1
League:
Division 3 (Group 1)
Players:
Phil Ogier, Jamie Ferbrache, Steve Ozanne, Jez Powell
Reports
Senior
Weekend 1 - 19th-20th September
The initial off-Island competition for some of the Island’s leading table tennis players took place this weekend, as action from the Senior British Club League took place. The action also saw a welcome return to 2 Guernsey teams competing in the leagues, having been reduced to a single team last season.
Both sides are competing for the honours in National C, which is the 5th tier within the recently expanded 6-tiered league, with action taking place at the Waterside Table Tennis Club, located in Testwood School in Totton, Southampton, a venue in which a number of the Sarnian players have competed at many seasons back. There are notable returns to the British League squad this season, including the returning Ben Foss and Ryan Bichard, who are back in the fold having missed the action last season. However, several leading players were unavailable for the opening weekend of action, including Alex Robinson and the twins Joshua and Lawrence Stacey.
Despite this, the Guernsey sides experienced a good level of success, with the first team ending the weekend in 2nd spot in the table, following 3 victories from 4. The downside of being in the same Division in National C6 led to the opening fixture faring the Guernsey sides against one another. The A side showed their superiority in the fixture and romped to an 8-1 victory. Foss and Bichard were in strong form in this tie, with each winning both of their singles matches, with Foss defeating Jamie Ferbrache and Matthew Casey in straight sets and Bichard earning a 4-set win over Casey and a straight sets win over Sam Clark. The pair also teamed to defeat Ferbrache and Clark in straight sets in the doubles match. Kenedy Chepkor beat Clark in straight sets, with the A side claiming 2 additional wins due to illness for Mark Fallaize. The sole victory for the B side came via Ferbrache’s 5-set win over Ozanne.
The afternoon fixture saw the sole low point of the weekend for the Guernsey 1 side as they were ousted 6-3 by Pingsters. Despite the defeat, the side rallied back well from a 4-0 deficit to get the tie back to 4-3 before falling to defeat. Foss and Bichard contributed equally to the 3 rubbers, commencing with a comfortable doubles win over the duo of Pedro Santos and Luca Gerrard in straight sets. Foss followed up with a 4-sets win over Santos, with Bichard battling past Charlie Usher in 5 sets. Foss came close to staying unbeaten but was edged 11-8 in the deciding set by Gerrard.
Sunday’s action saw a strong start which led to an emphatic 8-1 win over a St Austell TTC side that sits bottom of the Division. Foss was in cruise control in this fixture as he dispatched Craig Mehew and Arden Frew-Smith without coming close to dropping a set, with Bichard an equally comfortable straight sets winner over Frew-Smith and a 4-set winner over Peter Conway. Chepkor added a further 2 wins to his belt in impressive fashion, not dropping a set in his wins over Conway and Josh Hawken, whilst Steve Ozanne defeated Hawken in 4 sets. The doubles was won by Foss and Bichard over Hawken and Frew-Smith in straight sets, with Mehew’s 4-sets win over Ozanne preventing a whitewash.
The best result came in the final match of the weekend as a strong 6-3 win was achieved over the then unbeaten Worthing TTC A side. Foss and Bichard continued where they left off and ended the day unbeaten, with a further 5 rubbers added to the tally. For Foss, he defeated Ian Parkyn in straight sets before fighting back from a 2-1 deficit to see off England number 158 Jacob Evans 11-9 in the decider. Bichard also beat Evans in 5 sets in the match opener, before he earned a straight sets win over Angelo Robles. The duo completed their unbeaten weekend of doubles action, culminating in an 11-0 4th set victory over Parkyn and the unbeaten and unused Samuel Ashman in the doubles game. Ozanne picked up the other win when he outlasted Oliver Thorne in 5 sets.
For Guernsey 2, they find themselves in 7th position at the culmination of the opening weekend of action. Despite the unfortunate circumstances for Fallaize on the Saturday, he was able to compete in the fixtures that took place on Sunday. The best performances came against league leaders Joola Plymouth 2 on the Saturday where 2 wins were achieved. Clark fought back strongly from 2-1 down to get past Bailey Page 11-9 in the deciding end, whilst Casey combined with Ferbrache to dispatch Page and Daniel Kerr in straight sets in the doubles rubber.
Despite falling to matching 8-1 defeats on the Sunday, the sole victories were achieved as well as a number of unfortunate narrow defeats. Against Waterside TTC 2, Clark defeated Joshua Kelly 11-8 in the deciding end, whilst 3 other matches ended with Guernsey players on the wrong side of 5-set encounters. Casey was one such player as he fell to defeat by Umit Kaya, despite having started strongly with a 2-0 lead. Fallaize was extremely unfortunate to lose out to both James Roberts and Kelly over the distance. This was particularly evident against Kelly in the final game of the match, where after winning the 2nd set by an epic 22-20 scoreline to lead 2-0, he narrowly lost the remaining sets 11-6, 11-9, 12-10 to lose a cracking match which saw a whopping 123 points played.
The final fixture with Pingsters saw Casey get off the mark with a strong 4-set win over Santos and he also competed well against Gerrard, losing in 4 sets.
The next round of fixtures are set to take place on the weekend of 7th and 8th November.
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