TAVISTOCK Squash team came up against Exeter University?s Fourth team ? young and looking for easy points against the old timers of Tavistock.
Playing at fourth string Peter Middleton took on Will Tindall. Pete is not known for his long games and likes to finish matches in straight games. But surprisingly, he dropped one game against Will. Playing with skill, Peter easily won his match 3 games to 1.
Next up was Pete Walshe, giving away 30 years to his youthful opponent Jim Smith. By using his superior skill and experience Pete won the first game and looked to be cruising for a comfortable win. But Jim started to lengthen the rallies and caused Pete all sorts of problems, by lunging for shots that were sure winners and doing some excellent retrieving from the back of the court. Pete lost the next two games.
After a tough team talking from Colin Grice and strong vocal support from the gallery, Pete clawed his way back to win the fourth game and started to put together a range of shots that Jim could not return. Pete won the final game and took the match.
Stuart Cox has become a solid and reliable player and anchored the team by playing in the third string position. His opponent Oliver Jones was a tricky player, repeatedly driving the ball very hard, across court to the backhand.
Stuart lost the first game, but started to settle to his task and using low and accurate cross-court boasts to good effect won his match 3-1.
Colin Grice stepped into the number 2 position and came ready for a long battle with his fit opponent Chris White. Colin has been playing squash for the Tavistock team for longer than the average age of the Exeter team.
Undaunted by his opponent?s superior fitness Colin won the first game convincingly and was keen to continue the match. However, Chris had sustained a broken toe ? not during the match ? and could not continue. Colin was awarded the match.
Andy Gauler in the number 1 position dominated opponent Simon Gregory, with an accurate range of boast shots and excellent tight rallies. Andy stormed home, winning his match 3-0.
As a result, Tavistock gained the maximum 20 points from an excellent win and this should help move the club up the division 4 South West League, from its current seventh position.