Border Reivers 18-4 Heriot Watt 4s
Del Sharratt 3-2 Thomas Ewen
This was an odd match, as Del surrendered a 2-0 lead before taking it 3-2. Del started off sharp and fast and was in control of the rallies, Tomas was no mug though And had great perception of the game and knew roughly where Del’s shots wold go. But Del seemed to have the edge and as soon as he got to th T-Line seemed able to command the rallies; Del took the first to 15-10, 15-6; in the third game the match swung t oThomas Ewans favour, the rub of the ball and the luck seemed to be with th student and Del dodn’t do much wrong, just didn’t have the control of he rallies like before and Thomas took the third 15-12. Ewen was having to work hard and up his game to keep Sharratt at bay, the fourth game went the distance, indeed Sharratt served for the match at 15-14 up but the serve was out and Ewen rattled off the next two points to take it 17-15 and into a decider. Del refocussed and in the decider once again took control of the T-Line and Thomas didn’t have an answer as Del took the fifth 15-8.
Iain Laing 3-0 Ben Graham
This one was 15-8, 15-5, 15-10 in the Borderers favour; a fairly straight forward victory for Laing who has one of the sweetest strokes at the club and was sending the student round the corners of the court. Iain Laing maintains his unbeaten status within the team with his record played 5- won 5.
Pat Spence 3-0 Stuart Graves-Morris
This oddly enough ended in exactly the same scoreline as the previous rubber with the Reivers taking it 15-8, 15-5, 15-10. But a completely different style of play. Reivers Veteran Spence used placement of shots to combat the speed and agility of the younger Graves-Morris. Spence played some tricky deceptive shots which caught the student out and earned a good 3-0 victory.
Amir Hosny 3-2 Calum Henning
WE were getting towards the business end of the teams as the battle of the second seeds made for some awesome viewing. Although Hosny seems determined to go 2-0 up in every match before winning 3-2 – this seems to be the story of the season for Hosny.
Hosny used his prowess with full length and full width shots to keep Henning at the back of the court and control the match. But on the flip side Henning won out on all the front court rallies as Hosnys short game was found waining. Hosny took thfirst two 15-9, 15-9 before Henning really pushed the short game to come back with 15-10, 15-12 and 2-2. But whether it was stamina, concentration or home advantage – Hosny found the extra needed to take the fifth 15-6 for 3-2.
Tony Elliot 3-0 Simon Aitken
Having had some tricky games lately, Elliot found this one more straight forward. Aitken was making his debut for Heriot Watt 4 and it was a baptism of fire as he came up against one of the strongest players in the league. Tony managed to command this from the start and although Aitken made some of the rallies last Elliot was too good and won 15-6, 16-4, 15-8.
Captain Del Sharratt said “10/10 for effort right through the team, this was an important victory as we have sufferd som heavy defeats lately and were at risk of dropping down the table. Our final league match next week is against Craigshill Xcite and we need a 10 point swing on them to jump them to fifth in the league. We are all up for it and like tonight it will be maximum effort throughout!”