After winning their first league fixture of the season, Mens A went down to a heavy 8-1 defeat away to Abingdon B on Friday 10th October. Unavailability of key players gave opportunities for both Will Treadwell and Tim Claridge to make their first match appearances of the season. Unfortunately the opposition, who were playing in Division 2 last season were too strong. Rohit and Alex did secure a victory against their second pair and Dan and Steve squandered a series of match points against the same pair but ended up losing all 3 rubbers.

Our 3D team were also hit by injury and unavailability and were indebted to Jayne Wallace stepping in to play at the last minute. A creditable performance against Leys A on Wednesday 8th October saw them go down 287-209.

Mixed A made it two wins out of two with a comprehensive 7-2 win at home to Long Crendon on Wednesday 15th October. Alexandra and Alex Cousins made light work of all three of their rubbers and were well-supported by Steve and Alison and Nick and Frances who also secured two wins each.

A busy week of matches lies ahead with Mixed A away to Pegasus tomorrow, Mens A home to Windrush D on Wednesday and 3D A away to Wallingford A on Thursday evening.

And it’s 3 from 3! The 3D team with a new line up this season are off to a winning start after their Friday night visit to Abingdon C. The ladies (Alexandra and Catriona) got off to a smashing start, demolishing their opponents 25-11, 25-9 (you couldn’t even tell that Cat had injured her back earlier that day). The men’s game (Josh and Rohit) was a much tougher battle with the guys eventually going down 25-18 and 25-19, but showing great promise for the rest of the season. Josh and Alex made life difficult form themselves in the mixed, overcoming an 11-2 deficit at one stage to eventually clean sweep their games by narrow margins. Meanwhile Rohit and Cat won a game 25-18 and put up a good fight in the other three to snag precious points handing the team its first victory of the season 255-244. Awesome effort guys!

Hopefully the run will continue when they take on Leys A at home next week. [Report by Alexandra Park]

Our Mens A team also got their Division 3 campaign off to a winning start on Wednesday after a closely fought match against visitors Leys A. None of our pairs had any answer to Leys’ top pairing (Jack Bullivant and Adam Uberoi) but some consistent performances against the other two pairings saw the home side record a 5-4 win. Alex Cousins, making his Mens A debut, formed a new and impressive partnership with Josh Long in recording two victories from three rubbers. Steve Hurt and Dan Floris, a rather more longstanding partnership (!) also secured two wins. Their rubber against Leys’ second pair went to a deciding game that was resoundingly won by Dan and Steve 21-7. As the match drew to a conclusion the score stood at 4-4, with Nick Abitabile and Rohit Karwal needing to grab the vital winning rubber, which they did so with aplomb, dispatching Leys’ third string 21-15, 21-18.

Next it is the turn of our 3D team who, after gaining promotion last season, will be competing in Division 2. They start their campaign away to Abingdon C on Friday night and this is followed by a home match against Leys A on Wednesday 8th October.

St Clements Mixed A got our league season off to a flying start on Wednesday 24th September with a convincing 9-0 win over local rivals Oxford A. Alex Cousins, making his debut, showed his class together with partner Alexandra Park who secured three comfortable victories. Acting skipper, Steve Hurt and Catriona Morten started rather slowly and found themselves one game down in their first rubber before battling back to win 21-18 in the deciding game. They then took the confidence from this win into their other two rubbers to also secure 3 straight wins. Third pair, Nick Abitabile and Frances Down ensured the night finished with a maximum 12 league points by winning all their rubbers in straight games. Next up Mens A start their Division 3 campaign against Leys A at home on Wednesday 1st October.