Last evening, the UCSC 'B'ombers delivered a knock-out blow to SCC's fading title hopes. The evening's matches when wet roads from the heavy rain delayed half the UCSC hit squad.

The oldies, Michael and Daryle, arrived first. To start the ball rolling (some nicks helped), Michael stepped on court to face SCC's C-feeder, William OON, one of Singapore's top juniors. The first set appeared to according to (SCC's)script when William punished a still-cold half-century engine (and badly in need of spare-parts changes) to race away with a 11-4 1st set win. SCC's B-grade Vice Captain, Manmindar Singh, later shared that during the break following the first set's 'hit & run', the young SCC-ian was advised to stay alert, play shots wide and keep the ball at the back court. William was attentive but didn't quite execute as advised and paid the price. The temperature in the half-century (+ +) UCSC engine room had raised a few degrees and trade-mark delay-shots and feints began to increasingly flow from Michael's racket. While execution was not quite as crisp as it had been in years gone by, the element of surprise and unpredictability still delivered the desired results as William was repeatedly wrong-footed or slowed down and kept guessing. Looking across, Michael sensed frustration building in the talented but less experienced younger man and picked up the pace (yes, unbelievably) to punish William's loose shots. The strategy rewarded Michael with a hard-earned 3-1 overall win, as he took the last 3 sets by 7, 8 and 7. We certainly look forward to the further development of the talented SCC youngster as he will surely benefit from more exposure and experience.

It was a bad evening for William as he unfortunately went from one beating to another - This time he encountered the verbal barrage from the other UCSC old war-horse, Daryle Teng, who was up against new Singapore Ladies' national Champion, Mao Shi Hui, in the next court. William had sportingly gone over to take over from the marking of the tie from Claire Kluyver, who had to go prepare for her own match. Daryle had produced some of the old magic as he willed himself to take set #2 by a close 11-9 scoreline after having dropped the first by 3-11 to the talented young lady. At that point and with the tie at 1 set a-piece, some refereeing calls were challenged and Daryle 'admonished' (to put it mildly) the hapless young referee/cum marker to make his own decisions and not be influenced by on-lookers. As we all know, Daryle's tongue-lashing can be as deadly as his magical squash strokes (some say #1 from Johore to Batam). As the tie wore on, the younger SCC-ian's mobility and almost daily national training made the telling difference as she captured the next two sets by 11-7, 11-7 scorelines to secure the tie by 3-1 overall. All credit to the veteran for having kept up for much of the tie. Following the end of the tense match, a clearly distraught William walked but was assured Daryle and others, that it was just another 'normal' development which took place in the heat of battle. Chins up, William .... You'll did just fine, both on and off the courts and can only get better. We look forward to those better days for you.

So at 1 tie each, UCSC's hope lie on the broad shoulders of Jonathan Cheu and uh, where's Jason? While waiting for Jason's appearance, Jon Cheu was not bothered much in his clinical win over Claire, a very experienced and intelligent player. Jon's pace chalked up a relatively easy 3-0 win which elicited a comment from a very sporting Claire that, "Jonathan is just a class above and was just too good. It was a lesson for me." Thank you, Claire, and you are a class act yourself.

Kept back in college by the heavy rain, Jason thankfully made it to the Padang to take on the SCC pocket dynamo, Tim Leong. This turned out to be the match of the evening and the wait was worth waiting for. espite Tim's obvious talent and renowned retrieving ability, Jason was not expected to be severely tested. After all, Jason was in-form, having supported the Men's A squad and unbeaten in those premier matches with some outstanding performances. But few were expecting the battle to come. The first set according to script as a swift and elegant stroke-master sent the mercurial Tim all over the court. It was an engaging set as almost every point was earned from long rallies, with the breath-taking pace of the SCC dynamo matching the guile and elegance of the young UCSC puppet-master. Set #1 went to UCSC by a 11-9 scoreline. The script continued to be followed closely when the 2nd set resumed. All the rallies have to be described as superb and swift and low awe-inspiring boasts, delicate drops and feints from Jason were matched by gut-wrenching retrievals by Tim of otherwise seemingly irretrievable shots. But amidst all these superlatives, one particular rally had to be highlighted. In one particularly rally (long as usual), Jason appeared to have ended it when he flicked a shot from the front to Tim's backhand with Tim's racket raised in the wrong direction to strike a forehand. Instinctively, Tim swung his racket round his back to catch the ball and played an incredible boast which wrong-footed Jason instead for a winner. Delightful! However, Jason still had the upper-hand and ended set #2 with a more comfortable 11-6 win. Set #3 was expected to be no different. And it wasn't ..... except the result. Showing just the slightest hints of frustration beginning to surface, Tim stopped increasingly to adjust  and wipe his protective eye-wear. However, he channeled his enregies into harder and determined running and for all of Jason's delightful maneuvering, Tim tenaciously fought to take the battle into a 4th set when he took set #3 deservingly by a close 11-9. But Tim was all but a spent force in what proved to be the final set as Jason freely dispensed his entire repertoire of strokes and raced to 7-0 before Tim's first reply and then there were just two more hard-earned points by the depleted dynamo before he conceded to a superior Jason.

With tonight handsome 3-1 win, UCSC looks to have maintained its pole position in the B title chase and next week, we entertain New Pioneers at our home venue in SLF. In the first half away at NP's homeground, we edged home to win by a countback. Hopefully, it won't be as stressful this time. Come and lend the 'B'ombers your support!

UCSC Lives & Breathes Squash!