3 more victories were racked up last evening (Wed 10th Mar).

We commence with a report on our Men's Team 1'F'hantom's match-up against SCC Team 2 (comprising the Ladies' C team from SCC). The summary?: It was a MIS-MATCH.... Again, no ghost of a chance against our 'F'hantoms. Despite SCC coach, Allan Chang's presence, our lads (from about 15 years old to a 'young' 55-year old Lau Chee Lok), wiped the floor with the gallant ladies. The scores? All 3-0.... Match 4-0. Easiest report ever written.

Now, onto the Men's Team 2 'F'ighters' match against Noble's Team 1. Chalk up another victory for our lads. 3 wins out of 3 outings. Brandon Tan had a close match against his 30-something year-old opponent, CCC, but Brandon's 'killer' drop-shots made the difference which saw our No. 1 'F'ighter close out his tie with a 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 scoreline. 'F'ighting Captain, Wilson Chu, was next and waltzed through a 5, 5, 4, victory against his Noble opponent, Ernest Chia. Young all-rounder, 14-year-old Raihann Lim, put up a gallant fight but had to bow out to his older and craftier opponent by 4-11, 3-11, 2-11. Raihann will no doubt only get better with more experience. Good try, Rai! Bryan had the toughest job of the evening, twitching over an agonising walk-over. The young man was just itching for a 'f'ight that never materialised. Guess the Noble gentleman heard of this top Under-10 player and surrendered meekly. 3-1 to the 'F'ighters as they continue on their roll. Oh by the way, I hear-tell that all the matches which were played (sorry, Bryan), had no breaks in between sets. Advantage to our lads who were trained to play non-stop 20-minute sessions ..... HAH! Secret training.

Speaking of breaks in between sets, the match-up of the evening has to come from the 'C'onquerors' difficult visit to Elias Green (EG) with the daunting task of playing the Lee clan. The Elias team clearly knew of the formidable reputation of this all-'C'onquering team from UCSC and sent their best gladiators (actually, more like street-fighters). Read on ......

With No.1 'C'onqueror, Pang Ka Hoe, nursing a sore back, kor-kor Pang Ka Wai stepped up to the plate at No.1 with the unenviable task of facing the first member of the Lee clan, Terry Lee. Terry was in excellent shape for a 40-something year-old man, said to have been training hard. This middle-aged man had troubled the Soh brothers, Jonathan and Timothy, in the past and was expected to pose similar problems for Ka Wai with his (Terry's) steady, tight game and excellent strokes.... and antics. The 1st set sunk UCSC hearts when Terry stroked his way to an 11-6 win over our young 'C'onqueror. Papa Bobby then advised Ka Wai to step up the pace against the older man and despite the 'drama' from Terry (shoe-lace tying, stepping out of court to argue, psyching Ka Wai) which started unfolding in the 2nd set, Ka Wai cruised to a quick 11-1 win. At this point, squash rules were re-written with a blatant 5-10 minute break taken by the EG player before returning to the court to rattle an agitated Ka Wai and eke-ing out a 11-7 win for EG in the 3rd set. It was beginning to look ominous for UCSC. Another 5-10 break (which UCSC sportingly tolerated) and it was point-for-point until 5-5 before a fast-tiring Terry decided to surrender that and conserve energy for a deciding rubber. Fortunately with Papa Bobby encouraging Pang Jr., Ka Wai managed to contain his impatience and agitation with the older man's antics  to win the rubber 11-3 and run out a grateful 3-2 winner. Phew!

Next up, athletic Mark Wong stepped on to the court with a non-Lee, Tan Chin Kiang (popularly called 'CK'). No one could have believed that CK, a pilot, was supposedly about 60 years old (maybe even a bit more) but looked like a mid-40's chap. Must be something about the air in the upper stratosphere! CK plays with a limp but is blessed with some excellent game touches. Mark countered this with a blistering pace in the 1st set to go one up at 11-5. The score was reversed in the 2nd set when Mark slowed down the pace and CK's telling touches saw the EG player walking off a 11-5 winner. By the 3rd set, both players appear to be familiar with each other's style and strategy and it was point-for-point in this set and the 4th with the younger, fitter 'C'onqueror winning 11-8 and 11-9 for an overall 3-1 win.

Tie #3 saw Jerryca up against the first of the 2 Lee juniors of the evening, Lee Yi Hong. Jerryca was clearly the fitter player of the 2 and took the first set a close 11-9, despite having taken an early huge lead of 8-1 and 9-3 only to see the young Lee battle to 9 points. Jerryca appeared to have lost concentration in the 2nd and perhaps bothered by pre-match talk that Yi Hong was a strong opponent. She went down relatively meekly in the 2nd set by 3-11. The 3rd and 4th set saw Jerryca re-focusing and adopting a more aggressive game and a faster pace. It was point-for-point throughout these 2 sets but Jerryca persevered 11-9, 11-9 for an overall 3-1 win. Havng tied up the evening's match victory, UCSC breathed a sigh of relief.

It was left to young and stylish Benjamin Sim to face the last of the Lee junior, Lee Jiang Hao. Jiang Hao is a much-improved player and he wrapped up the first 2 sets 11-8, 11-8 with a faster and harder game than Benjamin's.... and of course, assisted by several favorable calls from Uncle Terry who refereed the match. Benjamin was clearly the fitter player of the two and the EG player required all of the EG-approved 5-10 minute intervals to recharge for each set. However, Jiang Hao was visibly slowing down in the 3rd and couldn't reach several front court shots from Benjamin. Ben took the 3rd, 11-7. Time out for another 5-10 minute Kit-Kat break and the recharged EG player fought tooth-and-nail before surrendering 10-12 in the 4th set. Yes, by now you know it.... 5-10 minutes later, the rubber began. Ben led all the way to match-point at 10-6 before a last and gallant charge by Jiang Hao (assisted by some impatient and erratic high-risk shot-making from Benjamin) saw the match nail-bitingly reach 9-10 before Ben secured that elusive winning shot to win the rubber 11-9 and his tie, 3-2.

UCSC came, saw, and 'C'onquered..... But not before sporting some telling bruises from this engaging and challenging encounter. True UCSC warriors.... Congratulations!  The experience gained and lessons learnt this night will be invaluable.

UCSC Lives & Breathes Squash!