San Marco's Grange @ Riccarton v Heriot Watt Univ(National League, Sun Dec 2)

Donna puts Claire into
"the graveyard" on the perspex court

After our winning debut at Giffnock, could the team back it up with a second away win on the spin? (click on the pics to enlarge them)
Donna Cruickshank at #4 ladies string faced the tall and athletic Claire Gadsby. Playing on the slow perspex court, Donna was 10-6 up (PAR-11 scoring) in the first but Claire made a great charge to get a run of 6 on the trot and won it on extra points. No more Ms Nice from Donna, she lifted the ball to the back and dropped to the front to win the next two 11-4. Claire had to go for broke to stay in it now, Donna also lifted her intensity, 4-4, 8-8, 11-11 and it went to extra points with Donna taking it 14-12 and the match 3-1.

Michael Ross defends aginst Peter

    Meanwhile Douglas Kempsell and  Kevin Moran at #1 and #2 respectively cleaned out Jamie Henderson and Kyle Gribben on the traditional court. Back on the perspex court, Pete Cockburn faced left-handed junior Michael Ross. Michael was in control for the first two but some good coaching advice from Donna to "stop the girls blouse stuff at the front and smack it" saw Pete get a lead in the third and hold on to it. Michael took this personally and in the fourth he was the one smacking it for the loss of just one point, to take the match.

L-R: C Gadsby, J Henderson, M Ross(All HWU),
K Moran, D Kempsell, P Cockburn, D Cruickshank

   Overall 3-1 for Grange, 13-6 on points. Next match is on Sun, Jan 13 with a double fixture at Edin Sports Club v ESC and Aberdeen SRC 1's. A stern test, I will be refusing mince pies in empathy with the team who will be on a cold turkey training regime over the Xmas. (Loob)