Confident from identical 3-1 victories in the season's first two matches, the 'B'ombers had hope that this evening would be no different. But it was not to be an easy evening.

The 'B'ombers and passengers (supporters) flew in early at NP's runway at CCAB, Evans Road only to find the NP 'airport' still closed and not a Pioneer (new or old) in sight. Captain Leong Chye landed first and had to be content with warming up outside the locked courts. NP captain, Rupert Jakes, then arrived alone to open up the courts.

Soon, both captains (both playing at No.4) entered the court for their match-up. Playing a very similar game of attrition, it was point for point until about 6-6 when Leong Chye made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes. Rupert Jakes drew first blood with a 11-7 win. Leong Chye returned for Round 2 with a vengeance, winning comfortably by 11-5. In the 3rd set, both players still retained the same pattern of play with the NP captain making some resolute retrievals to force Leong Chye into errors at critical points and taking the 3rd with a narrow 11-9 win. Close, really close. It looked all over in the 4th as the 'B'omber appeared to have used up all of his arsenal but at match-point 10-5 to NP, a glimmer of hope was sparked as Leong Chye defiantly clawed back 3 points to 8-10 and it looked as if a UCSC revival was nigh... But alas, one final error from our very gallant but tired Leong Chye, gave the match to a truly deserving winner in Rupert Jakes.

While the above match was going on, another battle was going on in the adjacent court. Veteran and NP's veritable human octopus, Lee Hoong Mu (HM), was tangling with our own quicksilver squid, Jonathan Cheu. With HM's long tentacles cutting off all the quick jet squirts from Jon, it was a very close first set which was peppered by rallies a-plenty. The octopus managed to scrape through for a narrow 1st set win with a 13-11 score. First blood to NP..... And last. Our 'B'ombing squid increased the pace and both players duelled splendidly for every point. Jon won crucial points after really long and tight rallies. During the break before the 3rd set, UCSC's fantastic Mr. Fox, Daryle Teng, advised Jon to avoid counter-drops but to hit wider shots to put the little black piece of rubber beyond the reach of HM's long ...uh, arms. Lobs were also impotent as these often failed to clear the human NP tower (cum octopus). But Jon was clearly the fitter and faster of the 2 duelling gladiators and while not having it all his way, Jon still deservedly won the winning points through superb finishing. 3rd set 11-7, 4th set 11-3, both to UCSC and 3-1 for the No. 2's tie.

Returning prodigal UCSC son, Kwah Chee Hian, then went on to face a relaxed looking Tan Wern Sern from NP. The young 'B'omber gave his all and won a very tight 1st set by 13-11. But during the next 3 sets, his long lay-off from competitive matches began to tell and Chee Hian made numerous unforced errors while his NP opponent played an uncharacteristically defensive game to lift shots and allowed the mistakes to flow off Chee Hian's racket with his shots repeatedly sounding the tin. The scoreline was nearly a replica of Jonathan's match but alas, it was Chee Hian on the receiving end. No worries, CH, a few more matches under the belt and all your thunderbolts will find their targets more consistently.

At this point, UCSC was down 2 matches to 1 and it was down to a current UCSC-sian against a former member, Patrick Mills. The match could have been played in the adjacent court and allowed everyone to go home sooner but for the wish of the NP player to play in centre court. Young Jason was totally focused, demonstrating lovely touches to wrap up the 1st set, 11-2. More of the same flowed fro Jason's wand in the 2nd set as he displayed some amazing wrist work to take the 2nd set 11-3. The drama began at the point of re-entry for the 3rd set. The NP player stunned all present by slamming the glass door shut and it was a wonderful testament to the quality of the Perspec glass when it didn't shatter. During the early points of the 3rd, 2 let calls (fortunately from NP's captain) for which Patrick must have expected to have been awarded 'strokes', agitated the NP player even further. Tense moments followed each of these 2 calls when the NP player paced the service box (not the court,..... just within the service box) for what felt like, never-ending moments, before serve. Our young 'B'omber was a little unsettled by the tension and the NP player capitalised with some excellent, thundering lightning bolts which gave him a 7-3 lead, and hope for an extension to the up-till-then, mis-match. That's when our own UCSC human windmill started spinning his blades faster and it was a one-way wind-tunnel blast to a 11-7 wrap-up with a series of flicks, tricks, nicks, etc (you get the picture) from Jason

3-0 to UCSC in the match-up of No.1s and a count-back win by 8 sets to NP's 7. Our boys had to work hard for this one.

With everyone then preparing to shake hands and depart for the evening, the drama was extended momentarily when the NP No.1, after pacing outside the court, unleashed a final tirade. The episode is best allowed to slip away into a vague memory and thankfully, the sporting NP captain, Rupert Jakes, took charge and common sense prevailed. 

We now have a break with next week seeing some of our UCSC-sians in action in the Masonry Nationals.

UCSC Lives & Breathes Squash!