After a more than exciting journey in the flashy YUSU car, York women’s 1sts prepared themselves for a testing match against Durham 2nds. But despite grasping four winning matches from the Durham team the other four were beyond reach leaving York with a healthy 4-4 draw.
Captain Clare Breare and her partner Rachael Farrington were on top form, quickly beating the first Durham pairing, Hannah Grayson and Danni Hainsworth, giving York a safe lead.
Farrington, the standard first seed singles player, comfortably gelled with Breare, securing some stunning net shot wins at Durham Hainsworth’s front court back hand.
Before long the pair soon identified a winning central smashing pattern leaving the Durham pair bewildered on court and soon losing both ends to 21-12, 21-8.
Alice Garcia Melgares put up a strong fight against Durham’s second singles. However, Melgares was no match for Durham’s Dorothy Chong, defeating a disappointed Alice to 21-11, 21-11 in each end.
Nevertheless, Dani Farsiani managed to swoop a victory from Durham’s Katherine Rumble demolishing the Durham 2nd to 21-9, 21-6.
Meanwhile, over on court 4, Cass Brown and Emma S’ari secured only 15 points against the Durham 2nds doubles pairing Sarah Webber and Laura Britton.
However, with confidence still strong, York went head long into the second game performing some beautifully executed drop shots and thoughtful shuttle placement. However, this was not enough to defeat the Durham girls losing 21-15, 21-11 respectively.
Before long the score was 2-2, leaving Captain Breare determined to bring in another win with Farrington. Breare’s on-court communication with her partner meant the two compatibly designed successful attacking play, effectively beating the Durham pair 21-19, 21-17.
Leaving the game standing at 3-2, the chance of a win was very much in grasp of the York girls. Farsiani added to this greater by faultlessly thrashing her opponent 21-14, 21-9.
Melgares narrowly missed out on a victory over Durham’s Rumble, losing 21-18, 21-15 but played her heart out for the team.
Finally, Brown and S’ari took the court for the deciding game of the match. Comfortably winning the first end 21-15 the pair went into the second game confidently. However, despite the promising start, a few errors left the pair feeling negative about the outcome of this second end, eventually losing 21-19.
The final end to determine a win rested in their hands. A clear attackive strategy aided them in the first half of the game, however, after a switching of ends the pair lost focus leaving court with a 21-14 loss.
Despite the narrow 4-4 draw, Captain Clare Breare was proud of her team’s performance commenting: ‘For this to be our only draw or loss all bucs season makes me very proud. It’s a shame the post Christmas rust didn’t ease off enough for us to grab that almost win but I’m happy with the performance of the team.’