"The Kashif Shuja Column".....
| UCSC 'C'onquerors Sink Chinese Swimming Club |
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| Written by Bobby Pang |
| Friday, 30 April 2010 19:12 |
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After last week's shock defeat by the long arms of the law, it was back to "business as usual" this week when the 'C'onquerors played the Chinese Swimming Club. The evening started with both Kevin Tan and Gabriel Goh 'diving' into action. Kevin moved up to the No. 1 slot to play the very experienced Ng Eik Pin (EP) while Gabriel Goh, playing at No.3, was up against Pang Hian Tee. Playing with tremendous pace and power, Kevin overwhlemed Eik Pin in the first two sets. However, the more experienced Eik Pin began to gain traction and started making waves of his own, out of the pool. It was a close battle in the 3rd when Eik Pin began to better read Kevin's game and returning shots with increasing confidence. Eik Pin managed to edge home with a 11-9 scoreline. Playing with renewed confidence, Eik Pin continued to make Kevin work overtime in the 4th, forcing the younger man into numerous unforced errors to eventually even proceedings by winning the 4th, 11-7. Kevin had to muster all of his considerable stamina and speed in the rubber to tilt the balance in his favour and was rewarded for his efforts with a thrilling 11-6 win to close out his tie with a narrow 3-2 victory. In the adjacent court, Gabriel was in stupendous form and was mirroring Kevin's results with even more impressive 11-2, 11-3 scorelines in his wins in the first 2 sets. But just like with Kevin, things look decidedly more challenging in the 3rd set for Gab. His opponent, Pang Hian Tee, a former national junior swimmer who had looked out of his depth in the first 2 sets, began to 'freestyle' his way to make things extremely uncomfortable for Gabriel. The CSC player had been a competitive E-grade player about a decade ago before he left for the UK to further his studies and there, honed his squash skills further. The two combatants fought tooth and nail for every point and the tense 3rd set went to deuce. Fortunately Gabriel managed dig in deep into his reserves, survived a couple of set points against him before touching home first barely by the tip of his finger with a 16-14 result to give UCSC its second tie of the evening. It was now up to our top lady player, Jerryca Teo, playing at No. 4 to confirm victory for UCSC when she went up against Jansen Ho. Jansen, an experenced veteran player, has been featuring prominently every week in the CSC Veterans Div I team. His Achilles heel at countering speed and front court shots was gleefully exploited by Jerryca who took the 1st set comfortably by 11-6. However, Jansen began the 2nd set on a hot streak, hitting successive tight drives and nick shots to take a solid lead at 8-2 with Jerryca contributing points through a few unforced errors. However, Jerryca regained her composure to persistently chip away at Jansen's lead to push the 2nd set into deuce where she managed to edge home with a 12-10 win. Jerryca wasted little precious time in romping home a 11-1 winner in the 3rd and final set to seal victory for the 'C'onquerors. Finally, it was down to our PTI, Mark Wong to try round up the evening with a clean sheet against experienced veteran player, Alfred Lim. The seasoned CSC veteran troubled Mark right from the start. Knowing that he was up against a young phusical training instructor, Alfred opted for a short and fast attacking game to build up a huge lead in the 1st before Mark could settle down. With Alfred holding game point, the super-fit 'C'onqueror fought hard to hit back to win 5 successive at one stage. However, the CSC player's earlier big lead was too much to overcome and Alfred edged home with the first set by a 13-11 scoreline. Mark then began to find his rhythm and this was evident with his relatively easy 11-3 win in the 2nd set to even proceedings. The next 2 games were very close. The constrasting styles were obvious with the younger UCSC-sian sticking to lengths and relentlessly retrieving while displaying a discomfort in engaging in front court duels while the older CSC player clearly was uncomfrotable with long back-court rallies and tried to change the rhythm by cutting off shots and attacking at every opportunity. While Alfred's strategy did trouble Mark, the latter's sheer speed & stamina eventually triumphed, winning both sets after deuce. Despite the 4-0 victory over the Chinese Swimming Club, the gallant visitors were anything but fish out of water having given an excellent account of themselves and were great sports. Thank you for the visit and the challenging encounter, CSC. With this result, the 'C'onquerors hope to wrap up the C title next week against SAFRA Team 2 where another clean slate effectively puts the title challenge beyond doubt. However, judging from the unpredictable SAFRA Team 2 results thus far against other teams, the outcome is anything but certain. Supporters welcome. UCSC Lives & Breathes Squash! |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 13 May 2010 18:51 |
