U13s draw against Somerset

Team:

Dom Aitken, Jess Hopton, Luke Joyner, Sally Mortimer, Callum O’Callaghan, Megan Foreman, Dominic Hall-Thomas, Brendan Foreman,  Emily Walker, Louis Irvine, Sasha Adams, Sam Hilton, Abi Threfall.

The U13s maintained their unbeaten record in the South West hanging on for a hard-fought draw against Somerset. With most of our graded players taking part in a tournament in Cardiff, it was a chance for less experienced squad members to show their skills against evenly-matched opposition.

There were excellent wins in the singles for Dom Aitken, Dom Hall-Thomas, Louis Irvine, Jess and Sally. Sam Hilton, playing in only his second county match, was very unlucky to lose in 3, going down 21-19 in the 3^rd set.

We were very fortunate that Brendan Foreman was available to replace the injured Dom HT in the doubles. Playing with Callum, the pair had comfortable wins in all three of their matches. Dom A & Luke picked up 2 wins and Louis & Sam beat the Somerset number 2 pair. Jess and Sally won all of their matches and Megan & Emily picked up another valuable win.

That left the score all square at 15-15 with just the mixed to go. Callum/Megan and Brendan/Emily got Avon off to an excellent start with comfortable wins. Match of the Day was undoubtedly Dom A & Jess against Alex Hole & Kathryn Saywell. The Somerset pair took the first game comfortably but, after some quite breathtaking badminton from both sides, Dom & Jess snatched the final 2 games 23-21, 22-20 having saved match points in both.  With at least a draw guaranteed, focus of attention switched to the remaining 2 matches in which Louis & Sasha and Sam & Abi were battling for the win that would secure the tie. Despite a valiant effort, both pairs fell to narrow defeats.

So, at the end of a very exciting and enjoyable day of badminton, the match finished in a draw. Every member of the team gained valuable experience and should be very proud of the way they played. Congratulations also to a much-improved Somerset team who came very close to winning the tie.