Guildford Table Tennis League Week 13 Part II

Published on: 21 Dec, 2019
Updated on: 21 Dec, 2019

By John Diggens

In week 13 of the Guildford Table Tennis League Premier Division Simon Vine scored a fine triple for Godalming B in his team’s 7-3 victory against Merrow A with an out of sorts Jason Tendler going pointless.

Simon Vine.

A feature of the evening was the four five setters, all at deuce, shared at two each, producing a very late evening.

Fei Fei Pei.

The First Division saw Woking A consolidate their position at the top with an 8-2 win over second placed Merrow E but interestingly two 100% records went on the night, Federico Viterbo to Steve Woodgate and in turn Steve’s to Fei Fei Pei.

Bramley are having a good season with their A and D sides in pole position in Division Two and Three, respectively.

The A’s opened up a 20-point gap over nearest rivals Ash with a 10-0 demolition job of a two-man Godalming H outfit.

This scribe confidently predicts the squad of Geoff Nevitt, Nick Gould, Ian Farley and Peter Palmer to stand on the victors’ rostrum at seasons end.

The B’s are 11 points clear of Merrow F and took out a youthful Godalming M side, unable to cope with the experience of Steve Mullins, Mark Lockyer and Angela Coventry, 9-1. To their credit Godalming took five of the matches to five sets.

In Division Four a ‘Local Derby’ saw Woking E defeating their D side 6-4 despite a spirited three from Richard Silwinski. Merrow G crushed Godalming P 9-1 to confirm their title credentials. Ryan Bowdier and Henry Evans took the honours.

Merrow’s David Joyce.

National Cadet League Round 2

By Adam Laws

Both Guildford teams had a tremendous day in Round 2 of the National Cadet League, held at Waterside Table Tennis Centre, Southampton on December 15.

Just as during the first round, the players were Vincent Quiambao, Jamie Orton, Katie Snelson, Kyle Kepa, Anton Kepa, Dan Godsill and Jack Liu. The only difference was that this time Kyle, Anton and Jack each played one match for the A team.

In division 1, Guildford A started the weekend with a 4-2 defeat against Weymouth A. Vincent Quiambao got Guildford’s two which included a remarkable 11-4, 11-1, 11-4 win over George Ackerley, avenging his defeat to the same player in November.

The next two matches, against the two standout teams in the league Waterside A and DTTA, proved fruitless and ended in 6-0 defeats. The highlight of these two matches again was Vincent’s tight 15-13, 11-2, 14-12 defeat to a very pumped up Owen White!

Vincent was again the star with his two wins against Thomas Agombar and Jamie Klinger of Waterside B in a 4-2 defeat.

The final match against Waterside C was the highlight of the A team’s day. Vincent again won his two but this time Jamie Orton and Jack Liu added a win each: Jamie scored a 3-1 win over Charlotte Fee and Jack secured a hard-fought 3-2 win over Ben Adams.

This team victory meant that Guildford A finished in fifth place again and will compete in the top division again in the next round in January. Now, would Guildford B, competing in Division 2, be able to join them?

The first match was against Weymouth C. Dan Godsill reigned supreme with three 3-0 victories over Ben Chen, Nathan Bushell and Oliver Storey.

Jack Liu added two and Kyle Kepa won once to make the final score 6-3. The B team followed this up with a stunning whitewash of Waterside D. Dan, Jack and Anton Kepa each won three matches in a 9-0 victory.

This result meant that Guildford B would be promoted into division 1 if they managed to defeat Weymouth B.

However, they got off to a slow start, going down 2-0 when Dan Godsill lost to Ashleigh Browne and Anton succumbed 3-1 to Jean Baker. Kyle looked as though he would reduce the deficit when he went 10-3 up in the deciding set against Dan Howe.

Incredibly he then lost eight points in a row to go 11-10 down but he held his nerve to take the next three to win 13-11!

After Dan Godsill lost the next match 11-5 in the fifth which made the score 3-1 to Weymouth, it looked like an uphill struggle.

Kyle started the comeback with a solid 3-1 win over Browne and Anton played well in a hard-fought 11-9 in the fourth game win over Dan Howe.

The next match, between Kyle and the previously unbeaten Jean Baker, would prove crucial. In a nip and tuck affair, the two players shared the opening four ends to head into a decider.

Knowing that his best strategy was to attack, Kyle utilised his forehand topspin brilliantly to score an 11-8 in the fifth victory.

In the battle of the Dans, Guildford’s Dan Godsill managed to edge out Dan Howe with a 3-1 victory. Anton finished the job with another 3-1 victory over Ashleigh Browne to make the score 6-3.

This scoreline means that both Guildford teams will be in Division 1 during the next round of matches in January.

Division 1:

Team P Pts

Waterside A 5 27

DTTA 5 26

Waterside B 5 15

Weymouth A 5 10

Guildford A 5 8

Waterside C 5 4

Division 2:

Team P Pts

Guildford B 3 21