AFTER beating Mayflower Wednesday Badminton Club the previous week Horrabridge Badminton Club were hoping to repeat the result when they played them away. This proved to be a false hope as Mayflower Wednesday changed their team and introduced some more experienced players.
In the first of the men's doubles rubbers Alan Berry and Chris Woodruffe were unlucky to lose out in a close three ender 13 - 15, 15 - 13, 15 - 9.
In the second men's doubles rubber Alan Berry and Paul Bitton, though managing to get back the serve could not score points against the more experienced Mayflower Wednesday pairing and finally went down 11 - 15, 8 - 15.
In the third men's doubles rubber Chris Woodruffe and Paul Bitton came close in the first game but again the Mayflower Wednesday players were too strong for them and they lost out 12 - 15, 8 - 15.
In the ladies' doubles rubbers the Horrabridge girls all played well against the more experienced players of Mayflower Wednesday.
With Zoe Hogg playing her first league match ever she suddenly found out that the speed
was much faster than she was used to but played well against the more experienced Mayflower Wednesday ladies.
In the first ladies' doubles rubber Tamsin Woodruffe partnered Zoe Hogg and the girls played some good rallies but lost out on the end 9 - 15, 7 - 15.
In the second ladies' doubles rubber Tamsin Woodruffe partnered Celia Williams.
This was only Celia's second league match but she showed she is a prospect for the future as time after time she ran down shots from the Mayflower Wednesday players. In the end they lost out 5 - 15, 7 - 15.
In the third ladies' doubles rubber Zoe partnered Celia and though they did their best the experience on the other side of the net meant they were at a disadvantage from the beginning and finally lost out 7 - 15, 3 - 15.
In the mixed doubles rubbers, to give Horrabridge a chance of getting one league point, it was decided to play Celia Williams with Alan Berry and leave the other pairings alone.
With Celia never having played mixed doubles at the first pairing speed she was time and time again surprised by the shuttle wizzing just past her then seeing it being returned as part of the rally. In the end Alan and Celia lost out 8 - 15, 7 - 15 but it was an enjoyable rubber in which to play.
In the second mixed doubles rubber Chris Woodruffe partnered Zoe Hogg. They came close to gaining Horrabridge's only point of the evening but after a tough two-ender lost out 12 - 15, 14 - 17.
In the third mixed doubles rubber Paul Bitton partnered Tamsin Woodruffe but they found the Mayflower Wednesday pairing too strong for them and lost 6 - 15, 6 - 15.
After the win of last week Horrabridge were put on the back foot with a 9 - 0 defeat but with a key player missing and two new girls playing the team came away looking to the future and ready to take on BAT's in the return match of the first game of the summer season.