The all-glass court at David Ross Sports Village saw the University of Nottingham take the evening, winning 4 out of 5 games against Scottish team, Alba Storm. Both teams played well throughout the evening, but it was Nottingham that took the points at a vital stage in the Premier Squash League (PSL) fixture.
The night set off with the first game between Coline Aumard and Alison Thomas. After a tense 2 matches, Aumard took the win 2-0, 11-5, 11-6. Commenting on the first match of the evening Aumard said:
“During the Nationals last week, I had to make the decision not to play for a Bronze medal. Luckily my body is strong enough to recover, letting me play well this evening and gaining a point for the team.”
The second game of the evening went to Nottingham following a close 3 matches between Declan James, World No.21, and Greg Lobban, World No.29. The first match was won by Lobban but James used this as motivation to gain control and take the next 2 rounds. The games scored, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9. James spoke about his strategy during the game:
“I was hitting the corners and hitting a good length, giving myself chances to go forward. The whole game was back and forth but I managed to stay relaxed and hit a couple of winners at the end, that is what counted.”
The second Nottingham female of the evening, Millie Tomlinson, played well against Scotland’s Lisa Aitken, playing a strong 2 matches and taking the win in both. The two games scored, 11-5, 11-7. Tomlinson explained her motivation to win this evening:
“I knew it was going to be a tough match as Lisa and I are a similar standard of player, she has beaten me before in PSL so I knew I can to be on top form this evening.”
Crowd pleaser, Richie Fallows won his first match 11-6 against Alasdair Prott. Fallows’ opponent came back determined in the second but failed to get ahead as Nottingham takes the 4th consecutive win of the night, 11-6, 11-5.
Fallows commented on the match and how his team have been working on in the lead up to the fixture:
“The team are doing well keeping the momentum going. I feel I did well mentally during the game, I’ve been working hard recently so I could play well tonight.”
In the final game of the evening, Eain Yow Ng for Alba Storm held an intense rally with Nick Matthew, aka ‘the Wolf’ but it was the Wolf who took the lead 11-4 in the first match. Yow won the final 2 games 9-11, 4-11, leaving the final score of the evening 4-1 to University of Nottingham.
“I missed my chance in the individual match but most importantly the team won the evening. My opponent had a good start to the final game taking the first 4 points quickly and I just didn’t regroup in time.”
Nottingham remain at the top of the league following this evening’s fixture. Next up Nottingham will face Pontefract away on 21st April.
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To follow the Premier Squash League in its final stages: http://pslsquash.com/
To get involved with squash at the University of Nottingham: https://www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/sports/sport/squash/
Posted on Wednesday 19th February 2020