David Sobo on the
Hill ...
The important stuff first....
It is with sadness that I must mention the tragic and untimely death of
one of the Chichester crew, Alex Bain who died last week; just 21 years
young. I do not know the circumstances of Alex's passing but our
thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends as they struggle
through this most difficult of times.......
It seems almost disrespectful to talk about the game of squash after the
loss of someone so young; however, the Chichester team were good enough
to turn up and compete and so talk about it, we will.
With the Surrey Health and Racquets team having a deserved night off, my
mission, were I to accept it, was to attend proceedings at St. Georges
who were hosting the Tinos Homes sponsored Chichester side.
Mission accepted. With my excuse lodged and accepted by the "French
one", I was fashionably late and missed the non-event that was Sarah
Fitz-Gerald vs. Suzie Pierrepoint. The younger of the two getting a grand
total of one point from three games. Nuff said. First rubber to St. Georges
1 - 0 Joe Lee 3-2 Steve Wykes
8/10, 7/9, 9/2, 9/2, 9/4 (42m)
 I also missed most of
Joe Lee vs Steve Wykes; a youngster brought in
late to cover for Mista Genever who had a neck injury I believe. I did
see most of the last game and Joe, recently returned from his first
proper PSA jaunt to Detroit, looked fairly comfortable. Being the
amateur that I am, I assumed that Joe had cantered to a 3-0 victory
but..... NO! Final Score was 3-2 to Mr Lee!
Had a quick chat with Joe after the game although I must confess to
gritting my teeth while doing so; I played him a while back in a Surrey
Cup game and he beat me 2, 2 and 2 and I thought I played well that
day:) Anyways, Joe was happy with the win particularly as he admitted to
not quite being competitive in the first 2 games. Most interesting
though was listening to a Junior (Joe) talk about another Junior (Steve)
as if he (Joe) was a Senior! I guess he is so fair play to him. The
other thing I picked up on was how proud he was of his performance in
Detroit. He lost in qualifying to Chris Gordon but by all accounts, he
played well and it must have been a great experience for him. Keep it up
mate!
Moving on... Lavigne vs Vail
Renan Lavigne 2-3 Tim Vail
6/9, 9/4, 9/1, 7/9, 5/9 (32m)
I did see this one a most interesting encounter. I've seen both these
guys play before. Didn't think anything stood out with Renan. As for
Tim, each time I'd seen him play he was beating someone who played for
my club so never liked him really:) Wrote quite a few scribbles on this
game so let me condense it for you.
Game one saw Tim come out, guns blazing. Renan was trying to find his feet
but struggled against two shots in particular; a backhand crosscourt that
although hit with power, seemed to die mid-court, and the Vail backhand
cross-court nick! Still, Renan hung in there until a missed backhand
drop to go 5-6 down. Then a bad stroke call against Lavigne from the Ref
to go 5-7 down. quality backhand nick from Tim to go to game ball and
first game to the Chichester No. 1 soon after.
Game 2. Tim still going all out hitting 3 nicks; 2 backhand and 1
forehand. Renan however not fazed and started to assert more control on
the game as his superior ranking would suggest. Second game to Lavigne,
9-4.
Game 3 was most notable for a small confrontation between the 2 players.
I had no idea at the time what the problem was and those around me had
no clue either. It transpired that Tim got a bit upset because of some
apparent blocking by Renan. I didn't see any with my amateur eyes but
that doesn't mean much. Also, Tim wasn't happy about Renan fishing for
the stroke. I DID see the point in question and have to say I disagree
in that instance. Anyway, Tim was sufficiently upset to pretty much gift
that game to the Frenchman 9-1.
Game 4. Good running and excellent retrieval by Lavigne. Then a rubbish
drop shot by Lavigne that was so high, it was almost a lob! Backhand
crosscourt nick by Vail. Renan still retrieving like a demon and then
another rubbish drop shot!. Missed drop by Renan gifts game to Vail 9-7.
Game 5. Lavigne now getting quite frustrated. Vail going for it big time
and winning! Excellent retrieving by Lavigne but point lost to go 3-7
down. An excellent drop by Tim who is almost on his knees now. And
finally..... a superb framed mishit by Tim to win 9-7 in the fifth!
Chris also also watched quite a lot of the Tim Vail match: "I
must say that Tim was very impressive, he hit some amazing shots. He is
obviously not as fit as he was so he had to really attack and he did so
with devastating effect. More rolling nicks in one match than most people
will hit in a career.
Renan will no doubt feel he could and probably should have won this
match but from a layman's point of view, the pressure of playing at Pos.
1 at home for St. Georges against someone he was expected to beat may
well have been a telling factor.
Daryl Selby 3-1 Tom Pashley
11/9, 8/10, 9/7, 9/5 (36m)
 On to the No 2 strings;
Daryl Selby vs Tom Pashley. This was actually a
very decent game to watch. Tom, 18 yrs old, started confidently in the
early exchanges to go 4-3 up and continued to hold his own to game ball
at 8-5. Selby without doing very much got back to within one point and
then a missed drop by Pashley (pressure perhaps?) and we're all square.
Ultimately after that missed opportunity, the first game went to Selby
11-9. I got the feeling that Daryl was almost trying to give the
youngster a lesson and not quite pulling it off?!?!?
Game 2. Pashley still doing well to 4-4 but now seems to be visibly
tiring, fishing for strokes. Ref called Selby ball down at 8-6 to Selby.
It definitely wasn't! That was probably the turning point in this game.
Excellent dropshot by Tom to go 9-8 up and another to win the game with
a clench of the fist. I did wonder at this point if Tom would be content
at getting a game off Daryl....
Game 3. Tom still holding his own and going 4-3 up but now Daryl is
steadily grinding him down. Daryl levels at 6-6 and then pulls away
without doing anything special to win 9-7.
Game 4. More straightforward now. Tom still playing well but good
retrieving by Daryl has the youngster tiring and with Selby sensing the
weakness upping the pace a bit, it's soon all over 9-5.
 Tom can and should be proud of his performance. If asked for an honest
appraisal, I'd say that when in the ascendancy in a point, he all too
often gave away the high ground with a poor half court shot which meant
he had to work twice as hard. That ultimately cost him the first game and
against better opponents, you have to take your chances......
I didn't see much of the Tom Richards vs Matt Holland game as it was on
at the same time but from the little I did see... Tom waaay too strong
but far more importantly, how does anyone generate such racquet speed
with virtually no backswing?!?!?!?!? Most impressive.
So that's that then. Everyone's a winner. Tim gets my Man of the Match
for a quality performance at No. 1. St. Georges get some well earned and
deserved points on the board. Surrey Health and Racquets can relax after
Chichester dropped points. All is well. ....Just about....
Alex Bain... R.I.P...............
 |
A night
at
St George's
Chris Noakes reports
 It
was another great evenings entertainment at St Georges Hill where the always
friendly and welcoming Danny Lee was our compere for the night.
First up we were treated to a display of squash juggling ( yes really !)
from a man who could do more tricks with a racquet than Jonathan Power.
At one point he was juggling 4 racquets in the air whilst spinning another
one around on a stick balanced on his chin and riding a uni-cycle at the
same time. Quite bizarre.
Anyway onto the squash and the first match was the two girls, the legendary
Sarah Fitzgerald for the home side and current world number 32
Suzie Pierrepont for the visitors.
Sarah Fitz-Gerald 3-0 Suzie Pierrepont 9/0, 9/1, 9/0
(14m)
Even in the knock-up it was obvious that
Sarah meant business her whole demeanour was one of steely determination and
by contrast Suzie looked nervous and slightly worried.
Suzie's trepidation was proved to be justified as Sarah went off like a
rocket hitting the ball with precision and crispness burying Suzie in the
back corners and then slotting in perfect drops from both sides. Sarah was
absolutely on fire and looked relaxed and confident. 1st game 9-0.
The second was much the same fare with Sarah keeping up the pressure,
hitting bullets from both flanks and somehow managing to smash cross-court
drives past Suzie's long reach to a perfect length. Suzie was getting
desperate now and started to go short far too soon and from behind instead
of from in front.
What was even worse for her was, as is often the case when you don't get
many chances, the few opportunities she had were snatched at and balls she
would normally put away with ease were planted into the bottom of the tin.
2nd game 9-1.
In the third Suzie tried hard to use her height and get control of the T but
Sarah in this mood was having none of it and hitting volleys harder than any
lady I have ever seen raced through the 3rd 9-0.
It was a virtuoso performance from an inspired master of her craft. You had
to feel sorry for Suzie who was not at her best but against Sarah on this
form no lady in the world would have stood a chance.
 "Not
much to say after that. Sarah was seriously good tonight.
"I've played most of the top 10 and done ok but I've not felt that out of a
game for ages.
"I'm not playing well at the moment so Sarah was the worst possible
opponent. Not a good account today."
 "I've
played Suzie in practice and she is much better than she showed tonight.
"She seemed very nervous which was odd as she had nothing to lose and I had
everything !
"I'm relaxed and enjoying my squash at the moment and I was very very sharp
tonight. "
|
Joe was a bit shaky in the first two but came through to play well
in the end ...
