"The Kashif Shuja Column".....
| UCSC 'C'onquerors beats New Pioneers |
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| Written by Kelvin Kan |
| Saturday, 10 April 2010 17:17 |
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Match Summary: UCSC 3 : New Pioneers 1 Both teams' respective No. 4s started the evening's match-up. This featured two D-graders, young 'C'onqueror, Ben Sim (BS) vs. NP's Brandon Leong (BL). The first set could have gone either way, both players extending the other with long rallies and tight control. NP drew first blood by a 11-8 score-line. Our Ben Sim continued to play his trademark cool and controlled shots in the second set to send Brandon into the four corners and errors started to come from the latter. Ben deservedly took the 2nd set by a 11-5 scoreline although the score was a little flattering. NP's Brandon was still pumped up and put up a tenacious fight in the third set but the tight control and cool placement by Ben proved the better strategy and UCSC took set #3 by a close 11-8 score. The fourth set proved to be the final one in this encounter as the NP player finally showed signs of fatigue while Ben Sim maintained an even pace with his tight control to cruise home 11-5 for an overall 3-1 win. Next up was UCSC PTI (physical training instructor) and Hotbod, Mark Wong vs. his near-namesake from Deutschland, the affable Markus Heerlein. The younger Mark's 'engine room' took quite a while to warm up and the lanky Herr Heerlein took advantage of Mark's cold-start to quickly wrap up set #1 by 11-5. In the second set however, the tables were turned as Mark warmed up and with his trademark low drives to take set #2 by a convincing 11-3 and even the score. At that point, Markus was showing signs of tiredness and appeared in need of a new set of lungs and legs. The young UCSC-sian however, had no such problems and in fact, lingered in court during the short break to try warm up his engine room. Set #3 saw the pattern of play maintained with Mark still driving low and hard. But the lanky German learnt from the second set and merely returned Mark's drives tightly and errors crept into the young man's game, his drives hitting the tin frequently. These errors partnered with a couple of fortunate shots from Markus allowed the older player to gratefully take the set 11-8. With the overall score standing at 1-2 against him, Mark Wong continued to urge his engine room into full firing mode by staying on court instead of taking a break. Unfortunately, the young UCSC-sian focused overly on the back court and neglected playing to the front, allowing the tall German the luxury of covering only half the court by controlling the 'T', now accustomed to Mark's still-ferocious drives. The experience was telling as the exhausted German managed to hang on to edge home 11-9 in the 4th and final set and take the tie by 3-1. Markus admitted after the match that it was fortunate that Mark Wong had not opted to mix up the game and play some shots to the front court as he felt he was "dead after set #2". With each team having secured 1 tie each, it was up to the Pang brothers to come to the rescue. UCSC's No.1 'C'onqueror went up against Cyrus Varza, an American-Iranian exchange student with NUS. The young Singapore national player demonstrated his maturity on court with a cultured performance, wrapping up the tie comfortably by 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 although the NP player was good enough to have given most other strong C-graders, a good run for their money. Meantime, 'kor-kor' Ka Wai was up against 'veteran' Lin Mao Yuen, a player who had over the years, played against Papa Pang and Uncle Kevin. It was a contrast in styles, the young UCSC-sian's fast and furious pace and power vs. Mao Yuen's slow and steady rhythmic pace. With that usual 'pace and power', Ka Wai, not unexpectedly, took the first set comfortably by 11-6. Things liven up in set #2 as the more experienced Mao Yuen began to 'read' Ka Wai's power game and managed to edge ahead to hold game-point at 10-8. But Mao Yuen didn't cater for the additional quality in Ka Wai which accompanies the pace and power ..... that's T-E-N-A-C-I-T-Y with a capital 'T'. With a sudden flurry of reverse angled shots, Ka Wai stormed back to even the score at 10-all and force deuce. At this stage, neither player was prepared to surrender the set and spectators were kept on the edge of their seats till the UCSC camp sighed with relief when their spiky-haired young 'C'onqueror, squeezed out 2 consecutive points to take set #2 by 14-12. The third set was a little anti-climactic as Ka Wai romped home by 11-3 for UCSC to claim victory with an overall 3-1 scoreline. Well done 'C'onquerors for another well-deserved victory as the team extends their lead at the top of the 'C'-grade table to 6 points over second-placed Schools with SAFRA Team 1 a further point behind in 3rd spot. Special thanks to Uncle Eddie Chan, Ben Chan and John Lim for their presence and support with Jerryca on the SMS |
| Last Updated on Monday, 12 April 2010 07:32 |
