Huddersfield Lawn Tennis and Squash Club were summer champions but have had a slow start to the Kirklees and Calderdale racquetball winter league, winning three matches out of five so far. In the latest match they took on Old Crossleyans of Halifax.
First match
First to play after a long time out with injury was former captain Ian Smith against Dean Brady. Ian took a while to find his shots losing the first game 11-6. As time passed Ian started to find his range winning the next three games, 3-11, 9-11, 7-11.
Match score 1-3 to HLTSC.
Second match
Second up was Mike Coombes, a regular this season for HLTSC. Mike started slowly, losing the first game 11-2 and the second 11-9.
After this Mike too found his range and began to assert pressure on Ash Johal of Old Crossleyans. Mike took the next two games 6-11 and 8-11 but it was to be a close and exciting fifth deciding game before Mike finally clinched it 10-12.
Match score 3-2 to HLTSC.
Third match
Janak Malkani, of HLTSC, took on a young and promising opponent in Rehan Johal. It was an energetic display from both players with the match score going one way, then the other.
Janak took the first game 8-11 then Rehan bounced back 11-9. An incredibly close and lung-bursting third game saw Janak edge a narrow 10-12 victory.
The fourth and, ultimately, decisive game saw several match points for Janak but the youthful Rehan held on every time to deny Janak and take the fourth game 14-12. The fifth and final game was one-way traffic for Rehan, who closed it out 11-2 to take the match 3-2.
Overall HLTSC won 11-6 collecting three bonus points.
