Uphill juniors finish the season as champions

Last week saw the culmination of the Uphill junior league season when the Under-12s travelled to Chew Valley for a return fixture.

The team of Charlie, Zion Chen, Shuo Shuo, Marcus, Vincent, Louis all played well and the match could hardly have been closer. After many close games, Uphill edged the singles element 7-5.

Chew slowly clawed their way back and after 34 rubbers, the sides could not be separated at 17 games each.

Chew won some big points and held their nerve well to take six of the last eight games to take a breathtaking match 23-19.

Despite the loss, the combined score of 48-36 to Uphill, left Uphill as champions in the league’s first year.

Thanks go to Anna Bickell, who kindly gave up her afternoon to help score the matches.

In the Under-14 match, another hotly-contested took place. The team of Dong Hao, Lewis, Elliott and Alana all played well against a solid Chew quartet.

The singles spoils were shared two each, with Dong and Lewis proving too hot to handle for their Chew opposite numbers, but Chew hit back to defeat Elliott and Alana respectively to level the match at two-each.

Uphill knew that only an 8-2 win would secure the title, whereas Chew needed five points, so all was to play for in the doubles.

Dong and Lewis overpowered Ben and Pete, before Henry and Cam combined well versus Elliott and Alaba to level the match at three-each. Uphill took the next two rubbers to edge ahead 5-3, before Chew pulled another one back.

In the last game, Pete and Henry used great tactics to take the first game 15-10 before Uphill stole the second 15-14. The Uphill duo of Lewis and Elliott ran away with the decider 15-7 to leave Uphill as 6-4 winners on the day.

Bizarrely, this result leaves neither team as league winners, as St Ursulas edged the league by the smallest of margins.

All three teams played two and won one and lost one. Table: St Ursulas 11; Chew 10; Uphill 9.

Big thanks as always to Will Mellersh and his Chew army for hosting Uphill.