York women’s firsts got their season underway with a hard fought 2-2 draw with Newcastle. With the match tied after the opening pairings, Alexia De-Lambilly gave York the lead with just one pairing left on the court. However, despite battling back from 2 games down, Rebecca Alexander could not complete the comeback by taking the fifth game as a tense finale saw Newcastle draw level.
It was a mixed start for the home side. Despite establishing a three-point lead early on, Angelina Foo could only watch as her opponent won eight straight points to take the opening game. On the adjacent court, Asley Foo gradually took control of a tight opening game to win 11-7.
Despite being behind early on, a resurgent Angelina Foo dominated the second game before winning 10 points without reply in the third. A late rally from Eliza Kinahan saw her fight back from 8-2 down to lead 11-10, but Foo maintained her composure to take the next three points and put the home side in front.
On the other court, proceedings were considerably tighter. Kinahan took the second game before Foo edged her out in the third. With things tied at 6-6 in the fourth, Kinahan surged ahead once more before winning the fifth game to level things for Newcastle.
Having drawn level, things got even better for Newcastle with the emergence of the 1 st and 2nd pairings as both Alexia De-Lambilly and Rebecca Alexander were beaten in their opening games.
Some deft play saw De-Lambilly soon back on level terms, in what was becoming a very tight encounter. Having raced into a four-point lead in the third game she was soon pegged back, but hung on to win 11-9. The final game was little different, with De-Lambilly again edging out Spence to
restore York’s lead.
In the top pairing Alexander’s resilience saw her fight back to square the match after losing the opening two games. However despite a tight final game, she struggled to get ahead and was always marginally behind, eventually losing 11-8 as Newcastle came back for a second time to tie the match at 2-2.
Speaking after the match, Rebecca Alexander reflected on
a positive start to the season: “I thought it was a good first game and we are getting back into the swing of things. It was a pretty decent performance, everyone’s match went to 4 or 5 games so I’m happy with that and it’s a good result.”