All four of Uphill Badminton Club’s teams won their matches last week.

UPHILL Badminton Clubs A, D and junior Under-15 and Under-18 teams have been in league action, with all of them winning.

The A team were at home to Frys A and won 8-1. The team have now won 56 consecutive league matches since their last defeat in November 2008. The team of Ellie Jewell, Paul Edwards, Christy Langford, Matt Cole, Becky Halfpenny and captain Mark Edwards produced another sterling performance.

All the eight rubbers won by Uphill were won comfortably in straight games. The only rubber lost by Uphill was the second ladies’ in which Heather Wrigglesworth and Jan Kerr beat Ellie and Becky 21-17, 21-10.

The team now head the league having eight wins from eight matches and 83 from a possible 87 points.

The D team were at home to Wyvern B and won by five rubbers to four. The result does not reflect how close this match was, as three of the rubbers went to three games with Uphill winning all of them.

The D team with Grant Kelly unavailable was Bethan Dunning, Will Hollis, captain Jess Hargrave, Sourish Ganapathi, Dannie Stone and Ted Woods.

Uphill got off to a good start with Bethan and Will winning the first mixed. Bethan, who is still a junior, played her best badminton to date producing many winning shots and continued this form into the ladies’ rubbers.

Wyvern hit back with first Eve Lockwood and Clive Wood and then Elaine Waldron and Mike Heineman winning the next two mixed rubbers comfortably in straight games.

Wyvern then followed this up by winning the first ladies’ rubber in straight games. The second ladies’ rubber went to three games and was one of three rubbers to decide the outcome of the match.

It was between Bethan and Dannie and Tracey Hooper and Waldron. Tracey and Elaine won the first game, but Bethan and Dannie won the next. The third game was a nail biter that Bethan and Dannie won 24-22 thanks to some amazing returns from Bethan and good support from Dannie.

The other two critical rubbers were the second men’s in which Will and Ted beat James Watson and Heineman. With the teams on four rubbers each, the last men’s rubber started with Wood and Heineman winning the first game easily, but Sourish and Ted changed tactics to win the next two games and the match for Uphill.

The only players to win all their rubbers were Eve Lockwood and Will Hollis, but praise must go to Bethan Dunning whose drive and anticipation augers well for the future.

The Under-18 team of Rohan Weekes, Ryan Collins, Bethan Dunning and Manu Shaji were at home to Portishead and won a close match by 12 games to 10 after the teams were tied with five rubbers each.

Both teams of players worked hard, despite the fact that eight of the 10 rubbers were won easily in straight games. The two rubbers that went to three games decided the match result.

The first between Ryan and Manu and Dom Oddy and Joseph Baines which Dom and Joseph won, and the second between Ryan and Bethan and Dom and Joe Painter which Dom and Joe won. The two games for Uphill from these rubbers were sufficient for Uphill to win the match.

The Under-15 team also at home to Portishead won comfortably by nine rubbers to one and 19-3. The Uphill team consisted of Jack Rickwood, Jighin Shaji, Tom Miller and Donghao Wang.

Uphill started well by winning the first three singles rubbers in straight games, but lost a closely fought fourth singles when Donghao was beaten by Alex Marsh 15-12, 9-15, 15-14.

All the doubles but one were won by the Uphill players in straight games. The only doubles rubber to go to three games was between Tom and Donghao and Aimee Morgan and Alex Marsh, which the Uphill pair won. The players to win all their rubbers were Jack, Jighin and Tom from Uphill.