Littleton Vets Ladies played their final match of the season last night and, true to form, have won again. It was a stormy evening at Lee-on-Solent, rain clouds threatening, and light fading fast, but we battled on and won eventually 40-31 on countback.
A big thank you to all ladies who played in vets matches and made the season such a huge success:
Vivienne, Anne, Jane H., Nikki, Jane B., Wendy, Sue and Jeannie.
Erika
Littleton 3 Sandleheath 5 played at Littleton on 16 August 2008
The Apsley B team were up against the League leaders for their final match of the summer. Despite fielding a strong team we couldn’t quite pull off a victory. David Darby continued his mixed success and started the team off with the first winning rubber. However after the first round the team were 1 – 3 down. The level doubles round saw the two ladies pairs winning their rubbers. The Littler family, Geoff, Nikki and Charlotte turned out in force to represent Littleton comprising just under half the team!
The team this week was Geoff and Nikki Littler, Gill Baker, Rob Strickland, Tom Neale, Jacqui Kennedy, David Darby and Charlotte Littler.
JH
Littleton 5 Kingsgate 3 played at Littleton on 19 July 2008
The mixed B team recorded their first win of the summer season beating local Kingsgate. After the mixed round the scores were even, but Littleton pulled away in the level round taking three of the four rubbers. The match was hard fought with three rubbers going to three sets apiece, and two of the final sets went to a tie-break finish. These crucial tiebreaks went Littleton’s way and determined the match result.
Littleton 2 Thornden A 6 played at Thornden on 2 August 2008
Unfortunately the B team couldn’t repeat their winning way against a capable Thornden A team. However, the mixed pair of David Darby and Jeannie Kettle won their mixed round for the third match in a row. Felicity McElderry and Chris Stone had a truly marathon three setter lasting over two hours, which ended in a Littleton win. The rest of the team couldn’t match the strong opposition, but played good tennis and had an enjoyable afternoon.
One B team match remains to be played this summer against Sandleheath on 16 August.
JH
The Apsley A Team achieved another win in the match against Portswood A on Saturday – making four wins in a row! After a disappointing start to the summer season, the team’s optimism, determination (& maybe even a touch of talent!) has been rewarded. The core of the successful team has been Geoff Morris, who’s played in all six matches, Phil Torkington (5) Wayne Barter & Adam Drysdale (4); Anne Heathorn, Erika Walsh & Vivienne Aspin, who have all played in five of the matches. Unbeaten regular pairings: Phil Torkington & Anne Heathorn; Adam Drysdale & Erika Walsh; Geoff Morris & Adam. Geoff also has the distinction of having partnered five different ladies in the Apsley mixed matches so far this season – is he using Lynx?
Results so far: lost to Bassett A; lost to Warsash B 3-5; won against Swanmore B 7-1; won against Compton 5-3; won against Hants Club C 5-3; won against Portswood A 5-3.
Match Report, Littleton A v Portswood A: In the first round of mixed doubles matches, three pairs managed to win or lose their matches very quickly – not so Geoff & Vivienne! They took over two and a half hours to play three entertaining sets of tennis and at the end of the first round, the match score was level at 2-2. The Littleton winning combinations were Phil Torkington & Anne Heathorn; Pete Drysdale & Erika Walsh. In the second round of matches, Anne & Erika won their battle (& not only in tennis) against the opposition first pair while Fran Arnold, back playing for Littleton after an absence of ten years, partnered Vivienne against the opposition’s second ladies’ pair, who doggedly wore down the home pair to win 6-4, 6-4. Meanwhile, Geoff Morris & Pete Drysdale quickly overcame the opposition to win 6 -3, 6-2 while Phil Torkington & Mark Hinxman seemed to enjoy prolonging their battle against the men’s second pair – having conceded the first set 2 -6, Phil & Mark then convincingly won the next two, 6-3, 6-3.
Another good win for Littleton and many thanks to Fran Arnold, Mark Hinxman & Pete Drysdale for supplementing the A team strength.
On one of the hottest days of the year the Ladies team travelled to what they hoped would be the cool grass courts of South Hants tennis club. But the hot and humid afternoon was more suited to sitting in the shade with a book and a cold glass of something than running around a tennis court!
We attempted to deal with the awkward bounces and slides of the grass surface, but a win eluded us. South Hants had the experience of playing on their home surface, although we had made plans to play short attacking points.
The team this week was Erika Walsh, Vivienne Aspin, Emma Poffley, Gill Baker, Sue Brown and Jane Hendry.
This was the last Ladies match of the summer season, and I’m happy to report that we have won 2 and lost 2, so should maintain our place in division 3a. Many thanks also to the 5 club members who played one or more matches and contributed greatly to the team effort : Nikki and Charlotte Littler, Anne Heathorn, Wendy Raw and Jeannie Kettle.
JH
