How one match turns fortunes around so quickly!

On Tuesday evening, the UCSC 'A'nnihilators squared up against A-Grade table-toppers, PSA, in the 4-sided glass court erected in Velocity, Novena Square. There was a decent spectator turn-out and with interested passers-by adding to the atmosphere, UCSC turned up the heat by rallying to a resounding victory against the law enforcers.

The first tie featured UCSC's Phil Mockridge, who squared up for a second consecutive year against an Indonesian national player. This time, Phil faced Indonesia's top player, Johny Marthen. Paying scant respect for the latter's reputation, Phil played one of his best matches to push Johny to his limits and stunned his powerful opponent by drawing first blood, winning the first set 11-8. The Police contingent breathed a sigh of relief when their man drew level, winning by the same margin in the second set. Their relief was short-lived as Phil once again caused collateral damage with his much improved fitness and speed adding firepower to his renowned tenacity. These saw Phil taking back the initiative to lead 2 sets to 1 when he won the 3rd set narrowly by 11-9. However, the Indonesian No. 1 soon showed why he was just that when he forced the rubber after taking set #4 by 11-8. The younger and faster Police player picked up the pace and managed to force some errors from the Englishman in the final set to finish stronger, winning the rubber by 11-6. Great match by both with Johny a deserving winner over a gallant and game Phil.

'B'omber Joshua stepped in next to face a former UCSC-sian, Henry Lee, a lean and mean fitness machine. The first match featured a mixture of errors and stunning winners from both players which Joshua only just managed to scrape through to a narrow 14-12 win, much to the relief of tense UCSC supporters (many proudly wearing their 2011 UCSC Tees). The Police fighting machine appeared unperturbed as he levelled in the 2nd set, waltzing to a comfortable 11-6 win over a Joshua who was distracted by keen on-lookers coming too close to the sides of the court. It did prove however, to be The Last Waltz for Henry as Joshua refocused and found an effective strategy to deal with the nippy and powerful Henry. The Police player is a south-paw who began to make uncharacteristic mistakes on his forehand boasts from the back. Noticing this development, Joshua began to playing higher percentage drop-shots to the right of the front court (effectively, to Henry's backhand) then punching measured drives to the left of the back. The points piled up in favor of UCSC from Henry's increasingly frequent errors. Joshua led once again by 2 sets to 1, comfortably taking the 3rd set by 11-6. The string of errors from the Police player's rackets continued unabated and it was perhaps the evening's only bit of anti-climax when Joshua strolled to a 11-4 win in the 4th set to take the tie by 3-1.

Laying claims to perhaps the most exciting match of the evening, tie #3 saw UCSC's 2011 Thomson CSC Open champ, Jason Ho, taking on the mercurial and elegant Indonesian No.2, Soni Rhamdani. Last year, the Indonesian was responsible for despatching Phil in the same A-Grade match-up. Another bit of trivia ... Both Jason and Soni are prodigies of the legendary Zainal Abidin. That will account for the avalanche of trick-shots and crafty court maneuvers which peppered the entire 4 sets between these two unique talents, which had the appreciative crowd "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" after nearly every rally. It would be impossible to describe all 4 sets which were so full of consistently high quality stuff that you will understand when I merely summarise that there were flicks a-plenty, amazing recoveries, crash-kills which nicked corners dead, counter-drops, counter-flicks, sudden boasts, energy-sapping rallies.... All these superlatives were on display for all and sundry to appreciate and rool over. Jason edged home 12-10 in the first set, dropped the second 8-11, pulled back the 3rd 11-9 and stormed home with a stupendous winning nick for a 11-9 win in the 4th and take the tie overall by 3 sets to 1. Class acts by both artistes, in which squash was the big winner. THANK YOU, Jason and Soni!

UCSC now led by 2 ties to 1 and by 8 sets to PSA's 5. UCSC at this stage, only needed just one more set to be assured of victory. That responsibility fell on the slim but powerful shoulders of Captain Marcus Phua who faced Samuel Kang in the final tie of the evening.

The tie between Singapore's current top two men players, was a close contender for the most exciting match of the evening but perhaps just edged out because the high quality was always expected. For the uninformed, just 50 hours earlier and in the very same court, same location, Samuel had dethroned Marcus as Singapore's National Champion, winning their encounter 3-1 on Sunday evening. It's not difficult to figure out why there were several reasons for both to want to win this league match-up. The encounter started out no different from Sunday's. Marcus played his usual stroke-making to score teasing winners with Samuel counter-punching and winning his points through disciplined textbook squash, superbly backed by stunning pace and fitness. Marcus took Set #1, just like on Sunday. With overall victory assured for the team, at least on countback, Marcus then went for the jugular .. but Samuel came back and with a rasping crash-kill into the nick to take set #2, just like on Sunday. Another trend was developing hitherto un-noticed .... All 4 UCSC players have won the 1st set in their respective ties. All 4 UCSC players have also lost the 2nd set. All 3 previous UCSC players before Marcus won the 3rd set. And apart from Phil being eventually edged out 3-2, the other 2 UCSC-sians finished 3-1 winners. Will this trend continue for Marcus??? YOU BETCHA! (sorry, Sarah Palin). Marcus shared in his post-match 'interview', that when he lost the last point in the 2nd set, he realised that he had to play more to the front of the court to keep Samuel guessing and from being early to the back of the court. Marcus reckoned that prior to the 3rd set, he may have been playing into Samuel's hands by sending 80% of his shots behind, which was well anticipated by the quicksilver Samuel. With that realisation, Marcus upped the stakes by to stepping in earlier and risked playing low front shots which compelled Samuel to increasingly move forward, opening up the back for Marcus' drives to be more effective and forcing Samuel into taking that additional step or two to the back. The trademark changes in direction from Marcus' shot-making were beginning to tell and pay dividends, big-time. A pre-match niggle in Samuel's left thigh was aggravated by the punishing rallies in which he was clearly doing much more of the leg-work (no pun intended). Samuel was increasingly seen gingerly gripping his left thigh from obvious discomfort but did not show any signs of slowing down, true sportsman and gladiator that he is. A lesser player may have already given in to self-preservation..... But not Samuel, unselfish team player that he is, to the end. But against someone of Marcus' calibre and breath-taking strokes, it was to no avail and Samuel had to surrender by a final 1-3 overall score to a deserving Marcus. There will be no doubt, many more exciting battles in store between these top two Singapore squashers. Thank you for the thrills and spills.... Get well soon, Samuel. You're a true sportsman and we, at UCSC, are delighted that Police have recognised you for that.

With this excellent victory, UCSC leap-frogged PSA to the top of the A-Grade table, leading the lawmen by just 1 point.

Well done, UCSC 'A'nnihilators. Tonight was a good, good night and we hope, come this Friday, the UCSC 'B'ombers will be able to sing the same tune against the very same opponents at the same location. See you all at Velocity on Friday.

Please wear your 2011 UCSC Tee and justify our sponsors' faith.

Be there, or be square ..... Make it Novena Square though.

UCSC Lives & Breathes Squash!