It was never going to be easy flying into New Pioneers territory at CCAB, Evans Road and hoping to do damage. The 'terrain' was unfavourable and New Pioneers' defences were on full alert.

B-17 (plane model, not his age) Flying Fortress 'B'omber, Daryle Teng (DT), went on first against Pioneers veteran, Tan Kok Kiang (TKK), to do battle for old-timers' sake. It was a slow, methodical process with rallies lasting up to 3 strokes on average. The scoring was fast, but not so the play. However, the first set had its moments of excitement when our own B-17 DT, despite lack of practice, matched TKK point for point till 6-6 and then it looked all over when TKK surged ahead to game point at 10-6. Then suddenly, the legendary fight-back exploded from DT with 4 successive points through some fine touches for which he is renowned, to force deuce. However, that effort must have used up the remaining fossil fuel in DT's B-17 and TKK snatched the crucial 2 points needed to seal set #1 by a (uh) 'breath-taking' (both players panting heavily by then) 12-10. The pattern of play continued unchanged through the next 2 sets (you serve, I drop, you give up. You serve, I drop, you return, I give up). TKK, about half a head taller than DT, just had that additional reach to put away shots and ran home (well, not really) 11-9, 11-8 in these 2 sets.  New Pioneers 1    UCSC 0

The UCSC 'B'ombers flew their second successful sortie of their NSL B-grade campaign, this time at SLF versus SCC's Team 1. It was a match with a difference as the SCC1 team had 3 (past & present) UCSC-sians amongst their 4 representatives which prompted Michael Tan to joke that SCC No. 1, Chew Kok Wye, was the evening's guest player at a UCSC social squash night. However, those who know Brian Van Ginkel, James McCarthy and Daryl Arnold, also know that they always give their all, regardless of whom they play. It was to be no stroll in the park ... And it wasn't!

The first tie was between veteran, Michael Tan, against ex-UCSC, James McCarthy. Perhaps James had been too long away from UCSC and no longer accustomed to the veteran UCSC-sian's on-court trickery. James was on several occasions, wrong-footed by Michael's trade mark wrist-flicks despite Daryl Arnold's pre-match advice to James, "Don't move in too soon. Wait for Michael to play his shots". Both players were a little tentative in the 1st set which progressed slowly until 5-4 (in favor of Michael) when Michael strung together several winners to lead 9-5. Then it was James' turn to put together a few great shots to narrow the deficit to 8-9, then 9-10 before Michael managed to just edge home by 11-9. The second set was unexpectedly easier for Michael from 4-4, as James began to make several unforced errors to aid Michael's cause allowing the latter to ease into the 3rd set by 11-5. Chew Kok Wye's advice during the break appeared to be working as James suddenly dug in stubbornly in the 3rd set and matched Michael point for point until 8-8 when a couple of errors from Michael gave James game-point at 10-8. It looked like a 4th set but Michael clawed back two winners to force deuce. The match ended a little anti-climatically with James making two completely unforced errors with two successive volleys into the tin to allow Michael to sneak away with a 13-11 score for a flattering 3-0 victory.

The 2nd tie was already underway in the adjacent court between UCSC-SCC English terrier, Daryl Arnold, against 'B'omber Joshua Wong, perhaps UCSC's most consistent performer (so far) this season in both the A and B grades. Joshua promptly continued that fine record with a 11-7 win in the 1st set, but not before enduring a determined containment spell till 4-4 from the battling Englishman. The 2nd set started innoucously enough with Joshua strolling to a 2-0 lead. Did that bother Daryl? Apparently not. Paying scant respect for Joshua's applaudable record, or perhaps thriving on the challenge of being the under-dog (terrier, remember?), Daryl proceeded to hustle and bustle in his usual 'give-it-all' approach to string together an incredible 10 points in one service-hand to race away to 10-2 game-point in the 2nd set. At that point (no pun intended), Joshua did a 'Daryl Arnold' to score 8 consecutive points to force deuce. But Daryl Arnold wasn't about to let this one slip away after coming so-o-o-o close. He closed out the set deservingly by 13-11, but what a battle in the second which had spectators suffering palpitations but asking for more. Breath-taking! That loss also underscored Joshua's track record for having let every 2nd set slip away in the NSL, so far. The 3rd set saw the close battle continue until about 6-5 in favor of Joshua before the younger player's better consistency, pace and power began to tell. Joshua took the 3rd by 11-7 as the errors off the Daryl-forehand began to multiply. The 4th and final set was a little anti-climactic as a spent and profusely perspiring (as is normal of Mr. Arnold) Daryl capitulated in double quick time for Joshua to romp home by 11-1 for a 3-1 victory.

Next to take to the courts simultaneously, were the two Jonathans. Captain Jon Cheu faced the only non-UCSCsian of the evening, Chew Kok Wye, and Jon Soh took on ex-UCSCsian, 'Kom' Brian Van Ginkel ('Kom' means 'Thunderbolt' in Afrikaans or Taal, the official language of South Africa).

We focus first on Jon Cheu vs. Kok Wye because the story is shorter. 5,1,1.... No, that's not the emergency number of some little known country. Those were the scores by which Jon won by. Kok Wye used to be a top junior and owns some lovely touches. He was however, unable to display those touches very often due to Jon Cheu's sheer pace. Kok Wye was left complaining (friendly ones, of course) about Jon's illegal speeding, with shots so low and hard that these bounced twice before they reached Kok Wye at the 'T'! Jon will do well to avoid such 'malpractice' in the return match, especially after finding out that Kok Wye is a lawyer.

And now, the other Jon. If one Jon's match was short, the other one was 'Soh' long. Once upon a time and in the first set .... The first match as expected, was a slug-fest with both players generating enough energy to light the courts without Singapore Power. Each took turns to lead by 2 points and it was like that before the war of attrition ended with 'Kom' Brian drawing first blood at 14-12. The 2nd set saw the same ball-crushing meted out and each player taking turns to score 4-5 points consecutively until 7-6 in favor of Jon Soh. It was then not so much 'cat-and-mouse', but 'lion-and-gazelle' (Brian will appreciate that) before Jon levelled the tie by taking the 2nd set, 11-8. The 3rd set was almost a replica of the 2nd with Jon taking that one by 11-7. It looked as though the younger UCSCsian had the measure of the 'Kom' but NO ..... Brian suddenly traded thunderbolts for subtlety with amazing consistency and to devastating effect. The big man showed deft touches against Jon Soh's stupendous athletic retrievals (despite having added a couple of kilos to his frame) with subtlety just edging home by 13-11.   2-sets-all and a mouth-watering rubber was on! It was more of the same in the rubber as in the 4th set, Brian resorting to drop shots and volleys as his energy had been sapped earlier through punishing rallies while Jon, although also beginning to show signs of fatigue, was still able to muster enough reserves to perform splits worthy of a role in the "Black Swan" and doggedly retrieve those drop shots. Despite leading at 6-4, Brian could not sustain the pace as Jon determinedly picked up and sent everything back. Jon stepped up the tempo and caught up to 7-7. Finally,  allowing Brian just one last respite at 8-10 match-ball, Jon Soh pumped his fist in victory when Brian tiredly sent a shot tamely into the tin. With that, a 4-0 victory was secured over our friends from SCC1.

Kudos to our pals from SCC who made it such an evening of exciting and competitive squash and yet, with the highest levels of sportsmanship and friendship.

UCSC and SCC Live & Breathe Squash!

Breaking the law(men) isn't something that law-abiding UCSC-sians are typically known for. But at Velocity last Friday evening, UCSC was roaring on their 'B'ombers to do just that. And how they were rewarded for their 'crimes'!

First to commit 'felony' was young Benjamin Chan, called up from the ranks of the 'C'onquerors' to support this vital opening mission in UCSC's B campaign. Ben was matched up against a rock-solid lawman, Tak Kumar, from the famed 'never-say-die' Gurkha contingent, the men without fear. Recently promoted from the C-grade, Tak must have improved a lot as he's also listed as support for the PSA A-team. Framed against the imposing silhouette of Tak, Ben looked a very small figure but finished, a giant-killer. The 1st set was tense, with both combatants playing tentatively, perhaps overawed by the rare occasion of playing in a 4-sided world-class court set up in the thoroughfare of the busy Velocity at Novena Square and watched by a good squash crowd plus curious shoppers who stopped to gawk. In a game of attrition, Ben made marginally fewer errors in an unremarkable opener to edge home 11-9. The 'A'nnihilators' dreaded malaise of dropping every 2nd set last Tuesday in their 'A' outing, then afflicted the 'B'ombers and true to trend, Ben dropped the 2nd set by a similarly narrow 8-11 margin. Wresting back the initiative, Ben took the 3rd and 4th sets through a fortunate mix of more winners than errors rather than through consistency. Still, it was a good win for UCSC contributed by 'big' Ben, who will only get better.

Next to do battle was Joshua Wong. Joshua was of course, just fresh from Tuesday's encouraging win in the 'A'-grade which he supported and also against PSA, albeit a different team. Joshua was up against veteran Gurkha, Chhabi Lal, an officer and a gentleman by any measure. "Chabbi", as he's popularly known, used to be one of those squash machines who could hit and run (legally) endlessly and wear down their opponents. He showed in this match however, a new dimension to his game when he executed numerous effective lobs and boasts to his trademark drives. But young Joshua was always just ahead and after the customary dropping of the second set by 12-14 (when holding game point at 10-7), proceeded to wrap up the tie by a 3-1 winning margin.

Veteran, Michael Tan, then went into action against the always dangerous Nuradwiyah, consistently one of Singapore's top lady players. An unsettled Nur made several unforced errors to allow Michael to edge home 11-8 in the 1st set. True to UCSC form, Michael then surrendered the 2nd set meekly to a more settled Nur by 4-11. The resurgent Nur continued her hot streak (no crime committed here)into the 3rd set to lead by 8-3 when suddenly, Michael struck a rich vein. Picking up the pace (or as PSA supporters said after the match, "switched from 1st to 5th gear in an instant") to play tight drives and sudden boasts, Michael pressured loose returns from the 'ambushed' Nur to tuck numerous drop-shot winners and clawed back from the brink of defeat in the 3rd set to edge home 12-10. There was no letting up now and Michael's winners continued to flow fast and furious and the 4th set was over rather quickly by a comfortable 11-3 for UCSC to confirm victory for the evening with an unassailable 3 ties to nil lead.

Captain Jonathan Cheu then entered the fray to encounter PSA's Chan Huang Yong, a former C-grade individual champion who was almost promoted to the A-grade just last season. Although the tie could have been termed "academic", in a league competition, that point may still make all the difference when the competition is over. Wanting to ensure that UCSC collected maximum points, Jon romped to a comprehensive victory over the game Chan, but not before breaking UCSC tradition by refusing to drop the 2nd set enroute to a 3 straight sets victory. Well, that's one 'crime' easily forgiven by UCSC supporters as they celebrated a fine opening result over a sporting and friendly PSA team.

The season for is still early on and nothing may be taken for granted, but it was an encouraging start nevertheless, for the eager 'B'ombers.

UCSC Lives & Breathes Squash!

How one match turns fortunes around so quickly!

On Tuesday evening, the UCSC 'A'nnihilators squared up against A-Grade table-toppers, PSA, in the 4-sided glass court erected in Velocity, Novena Square. There was a decent spectator turn-out and with interested passers-by adding to the atmosphere, UCSC turned up the heat by rallying to a resounding victory against the law enforcers.

The first tie featured UCSC's Phil Mockridge, who squared up for a second consecutive year against an Indonesian national player. This time, Phil faced Indonesia's top player, Johny Marthen. Paying scant respect for the latter's reputation, Phil played one of his best matches to push Johny to his limits and stunned his powerful opponent by drawing first blood, winning the first set 11-8. The Police contingent breathed a sigh of relief when their man drew level, winning by the same margin in the second set. Their relief was short-lived as Phil once again caused collateral damage with his much improved fitness and speed adding firepower to his renowned tenacity. These saw Phil taking back the initiative to lead 2 sets to 1 when he won the 3rd set narrowly by 11-9. However, the Indonesian No. 1 soon showed why he was just that when he forced the rubber after taking set #4 by 11-8. The younger and faster Police player picked up the pace and managed to force some errors from the Englishman in the final set to finish stronger, winning the rubber by 11-6. Great match by both with Johny a deserving winner over a gallant and game Phil.

'B'omber Joshua stepped in next to face a former UCSC-sian, Henry Lee, a lean and mean fitness machine. The first match featured a mixture of errors and stunning winners from both players which Joshua only just managed to scrape through to a narrow 14-12 win, much to the relief of tense UCSC supporters (many proudly wearing their 2011 UCSC Tees). The Police fighting machine appeared unperturbed as he levelled in the 2nd set, waltzing to a comfortable 11-6 win over a Joshua who was distracted by keen on-lookers coming too close to the sides of the court. It did prove however, to be The Last Waltz for Henry as Joshua refocused and found an effective strategy to deal with the nippy and powerful Henry. The Police player is a south-paw who began to make uncharacteristic mistakes on his forehand boasts from the back. Noticing this development, Joshua began to playing higher percentage drop-shots to the right of the front court (effectively, to Henry's backhand) then punching measured drives to the left of the back. The points piled up in favor of UCSC from Henry's increasingly frequent errors. Joshua led once again by 2 sets to 1, comfortably taking the 3rd set by 11-6. The string of errors from the Police player's rackets continued unabated and it was perhaps the evening's only bit of anti-climax when Joshua strolled to a 11-4 win in the 4th set to take the tie by 3-1.

Laying claims to perhaps the most exciting match of the evening, tie #3 saw UCSC's 2011 Thomson CSC Open champ, Jason Ho, taking on the mercurial and elegant Indonesian No.2, Soni Rhamdani. Last year, the Indonesian was responsible for despatching Phil in the same A-Grade match-up. Another bit of trivia ... Both Jason and Soni are prodigies of the legendary Zainal Abidin. That will account for the avalanche of trick-shots and crafty court maneuvers which peppered the entire 4 sets between these two unique talents, which had the appreciative crowd "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" after nearly every rally. It would be impossible to describe all 4 sets which were so full of consistently high quality stuff that you will understand when I merely summarise that there were flicks a-plenty, amazing recoveries, crash-kills which nicked corners dead, counter-drops, counter-flicks, sudden boasts, energy-sapping rallies.... All these superlatives were on display for all and sundry to appreciate and rool over. Jason edged home 12-10 in the first set, dropped the second 8-11, pulled back the 3rd 11-9 and stormed home with a stupendous winning nick for a 11-9 win in the 4th and take the tie overall by 3 sets to 1. Class acts by both artistes, in which squash was the big winner. THANK YOU, Jason and Soni!

UCSC now led by 2 ties to 1 and by 8 sets to PSA's 5. UCSC at this stage, only needed just one more set to be assured of victory. That responsibility fell on the slim but powerful shoulders of Captain Marcus Phua who faced Samuel Kang in the final tie of the evening.

The tie between Singapore's current top two men players, was a close contender for the most exciting match of the evening but perhaps just edged out because the high quality was always expected. For the uninformed, just 50 hours earlier and in the very same court, same location, Samuel had dethroned Marcus as Singapore's National Champion, winning their encounter 3-1 on Sunday evening. It's not difficult to figure out why there were several reasons for both to want to win this league match-up. The encounter started out no different from Sunday's. Marcus played his usual stroke-making to score teasing winners with Samuel counter-punching and winning his points through disciplined textbook squash, superbly backed by stunning pace and fitness. Marcus took Set #1, just like on Sunday. With overall victory assured for the team, at least on countback, Marcus then went for the jugular .. but Samuel came back and with a rasping crash-kill into the nick to take set #2, just like on Sunday. Another trend was developing hitherto un-noticed .... All 4 UCSC players have won the 1st set in their respective ties. All 4 UCSC players have also lost the 2nd set. All 3 previous UCSC players before Marcus won the 3rd set. And apart from Phil being eventually edged out 3-2, the other 2 UCSC-sians finished 3-1 winners. Will this trend continue for Marcus??? YOU BETCHA! (sorry, Sarah Palin). Marcus shared in his post-match 'interview', that when he lost the last point in the 2nd set, he realised that he had to play more to the front of the court to keep Samuel guessing and from being early to the back of the court. Marcus reckoned that prior to the 3rd set, he may have been playing into Samuel's hands by sending 80% of his shots behind, which was well anticipated by the quicksilver Samuel. With that realisation, Marcus upped the stakes by to stepping in earlier and risked playing low front shots which compelled Samuel to increasingly move forward, opening up the back for Marcus' drives to be more effective and forcing Samuel into taking that additional step or two to the back. The trademark changes in direction from Marcus' shot-making were beginning to tell and pay dividends, big-time. A pre-match niggle in Samuel's left thigh was aggravated by the punishing rallies in which he was clearly doing much more of the leg-work (no pun intended). Samuel was increasingly seen gingerly gripping his left thigh from obvious discomfort but did not show any signs of slowing down, true sportsman and gladiator that he is. A lesser player may have already given in to self-preservation..... But not Samuel, unselfish team player that he is, to the end. But against someone of Marcus' calibre and breath-taking strokes, it was to no avail and Samuel had to surrender by a final 1-3 overall score to a deserving Marcus. There will be no doubt, many more exciting battles in store between these top two Singapore squashers. Thank you for the thrills and spills.... Get well soon, Samuel. You're a true sportsman and we, at UCSC, are delighted that Police have recognised you for that.

With this excellent victory, UCSC leap-frogged PSA to the top of the A-Grade table, leading the lawmen by just 1 point.

Well done, UCSC 'A'nnihilators. Tonight was a good, good night and we hope, come this Friday, the UCSC 'B'ombers will be able to sing the same tune against the very same opponents at the same location. See you all at Velocity on Friday.

Please wear your 2011 UCSC Tee and justify our sponsors' faith.

Be there, or be square ..... Make it Novena Square though.

UCSC Lives & Breathes Squash!