OKEHAMPTON squash first team started the second half of the season after their festive break with a solid win away to Tiverton.

Dan Yeoman at string 5 dug deep against a dogged opponent but after four tight games he came out a 3-1 victor. Justin Gliddon at four went 1-0 up but then his opponent withdrew with a hamstring injury, conceding the match to Justin.

Simon Ramsay at string three played a close match, but just could not finish games off, eventually losing a tight fourth game to lose the match 1-3. Phil Allin at string two played another close match just coming out on top 3-2. Phil used his drop shot to good effect to put his opponent under pressure, particularly in the final game. 

Phil Kemsley at string one took his opponent to a fifth game - but his opponent had slightly more in the tank and played a more consistent and tight final game. Phil, therefore, lost 2-3. So overall a 3-2 win in matches and a 17-9 point victory.

Okehampton’s second team started with a defeat away to a youthful Exeter University side.

Both Dave Harwood and Sue Stanbury at strings four and five battled hard in their matches but went down to their hard running opponents. At string three Jack Barkwell played some excellent squash in a lengthy match, but eventually lost a tight final game to lose 2-3. At string two Shane Vallance couldn’t recover from a slow start to lose 1-3.

Shawn Jones played some great squash in the string one match, keeping his young opponent off balance with effective lobs and keeping the ball alive in a series of long rallies - eventually winning 3-1.

So, the team went down 1-4 in matches, a 7-17 point defeat. The following week the team benefited from a 20-0 walkover due to Torquay being unable to raise a side.