Issue 155
Waterfront Online
Swansea squashed under pressure
08th May 2007
Swansea Women's 2 - Cardiff Women's 3
Swansea Men's 1 - Cardiff Men's 4
Swansea's men and women's squash teams failed to score any points towards the shield in their Varsity fixtures as it ended with the Cardiff ladies taking a comfortable 4 - 0 win, while the men's match was over after three games - Cardiff triumphing 3 - 2, only losing dead rubbers.
Cardiff fourth seed Andrea Philpot kicked off the ladies matches, she settled into an early lead winning her first two games 9 - 1 and 9 - 3. Her opponent picked up the pace in the third rubber but Philpot held strong 9 - 7.
On court two, Cardiff number three Jo Watkins was busy gathering up the women's second win of the day. Putting in a confident display, she won 3 - 0 (9 - 1; 9 - 2; 9 - 3).
The Cardiff number two seed, Erica Ballantyne, claimed an undeserved 9 - 0 win in her first rubber, as the Swansea player failed to receive Erica's serve. The pattern continued as Ballantyne went on to win 9 - 0, 9 - 0 in the second and third rubbers, achieving a whitewash 27 - 0 victory overall for the women.
Gwenan Jones-Parry, Cardiff's number one, followed suit; she took a 9 - 1 lead in her first rubber and continued on with this performance to take a straight sets victory.
As for the men, Cardiff's displayed a high standard of play, which was demonstrated in all five matches.
Owain Jones, playing at seed five, achieved a 27 - 0 win in his three sets, while fourth seed James Wuerzer and seed three, Matt Curry, finalised the win, disapointing for Swansea to fall so comprehensively but it failed to affect the mood in the Swansea team.
Swansea battled well in the final two games as Mark Pierce (Cardiff number two) and Rhys Owen (Cardiff Men's Captain and top seed) were defeated, giving a positive end for the teams.
Both Swansea players used their Welsh international form to defeat the Cardiff duo.
Pierce lost 3 - 1, despite fighting well to win his one rubber, and Owen succumbed to a 3 - 0 defeat. Swansea's quality shone through and it is good to see young interntationals and future full internationals playing somewhere near their best, despite the fact that this was not enough to save them.
Overall the day ended in defeat for the Swansea teams, but they were not completely whitewashed which has to be of some comfort to them.
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