A long Old Night for Surrey Storm

Surrey Storm made the long trip to Exeter in search of their first win in the last fixture of 2009.  On arrival hopes were boosted by the news that Joey Barrington had withdrawn at number 2 for Exeter meaning they had to hand a late call up to Marwan el Shorbagy and the rest of the side all moving up a place.

First up was Marwan vs. Alex Ingham at number 5.  Alex snuck the first 11/9 moving the ball around comfortably and attacking with conviction when the chance arrived.  The second followed a similar pattern with Marwan taking the final few points to level 11/9.  A bad start in the next saw Alex playing catch up for the rest of the game and the young Egyptian closed it out 11/5 moving to within one game of his second win on the bounce.  Alex was unable to interrupt Marwan’s momentum in the fourth who impressively took the game 11/7 and with it the match.

Stacey Ross was back at number 3 where he is unbeaten this season and he was up against James Snell.  Stacey won in 3 tight games, 2 of which went to tie breaks but Stacey played the big points better and levelled things up for the Storm. 

In the girls match Victoria Lust was struggling to find her rhythm against Emma Chorley who was moving well and seemed intent on causing an upset.  Emma took the first 2 games on a tie break before Vicky responded by winning the 3rd 11/9.  We were looking forward to a comeback before Emma slammed the door shut by regaining her dominance taking the fourth 11/5 and with it our hopes of victory.

Jesse recently back from injury was fighting hard against fellow South African Clinton Leeuw.  The first 2 games were shared 11/9 and looked like it might go all the way but at the end of the 3rd and 4th Jesse short of court time ran out of steam and Clinton took them 11/6, 11/8 respectively guaranteeing Exeter the match.
The last match on saw Julian Illingworth Surrey storm’s number 1 making his debut against the inform Jonathan Kemp. There was not a lot between them in the first 2 with some great attacking squash and at 1 game all the crowed hoped it may go to 5.  Jonathan came out flying in the 3rd and Julian was always behind eventually losing it 11/5.  It was role reversal again in the 4h as Julian aided by some great winners took the game by the scruff of the neck before Jonathan clawed his way back to 9-9 before eventually winning it 11/9. 

This was a great advert for the PSL as the game was played in a great manner with both players respecting each other and the referees showing squash at its entertaining best.

Massive thanks to Tony, Adam and all the staff at Devon & Exeter for their hospitality and running a great evening.  We look forward to seeing you in March.

Graeme Williams