FivesOnline

Dom Redmond reports: 

This year’s competition was run on a different date to the Kinnaird due to a pleasingly high entry, with pairs coming from schools such as Emanuel, St Olave’s and Shrewsbury and clubs such as Cambridge, Westway and North Oxford, as well as many Old Girls from various schools.

This year we decided to go back to the pools system as we had the time and the court space. We had four pools of six with the top two pairs going through to the knockout phase and the remaining pairs going into the plate competitions. The pools saw many close matches with all seeds qualifying in top positions.

This year saw several pairs from Cambridge reach the knockout stages, along with the usual suspects. Defending champions Kerry White and Dom Redmond took on the Old Cholmeleian pair of Emily Scoones and Anne Sceales in a brilliant match which saw last year’s winners make it through to the semi-finals. Last year's finalists Charlotta Cooley and Marianne Rees also made it through with ease beating Eli Hullis and Karen Hird from Cambridge 12-2, 12-1. This year’s third seeds Anita Ganguly and Fiona Barnes beat the Westminster and Cambridge duo Lucie Bishop and Emmalina Thompsell 12-2, 12-1 whilst the fourth seeds, the Lancing Old Girl pair of Rosie Scott and Ashley Lumbard, beat the third Cambridge pair in the last eight, Natalie Lilienthal and Charlie Farquharson-Roberts.

The semi-finals got underway with the players having a choice of best of three or five game match. Kerry and Dom started first against ex-National Schools' champions Ashley and Rosie. Both pairs chose to play best of five games. The defending champions got off to a good start gaining a big lead in each game and managing to keep the leads they built to secure the match. Each game had brilliant rallies and the score did not do justice to the quality of the Fives played. Charlotta and Marianne took on Fiona and Anita and they chose to play best of three. This was a fantastically close match, with great rallies and some amazing shots. Eventually the great play from Charlotta and Marianne was too good for the third seeds and Charlotta and Marianne secure a place in the final.

The Final took place on Sunday 11^th April at Eton College and was a repeat of last year’s showpiece with Kerry and Dom defending their title against Charlotta and Marianne. Over the past few years these two pairs have met three times and with all four ladies playing more than usual this year, would there be new champions?

The first game got off to a slow start with both pairs matching each other shot for shot until a burst of scoring from Kerry and Dom saw them open a significant lead. Charlotta and Marianne started to claw back some points but Dom and Kerry’s lead was too great and they took the first game 12-2. The second game started like the first with Dom and Kerry getting a big lead. Charlotta and Marianne managed to level at 5-5 but again the holders broke away to take the second game 12-5. The third game followed a similar pattern with some great volleying and rallies but the result was the same with Dom and Kerry winning 12-2 to take the title for the sixth time in a row, and for the eleventh time in total for Kerry.

Quarter-finals

D.Redmond & K.White beat E.Scoones & A.Sceales 12-3, 12-6

A.Lumbard & R.Scott beat C.Farquharson-Roberts & N.Lilienthal 12-0, 12-1

C.Cooley & M.Rees beat E.Hullis & K.Hird 12-0, 12-4

F.Barnes & A.Ganguly beat L.Bishop & E.Thompsell 12-2, 12-1

Semi-finals

D.Redmond & K.White beat A.Lumbard & R.Scott 12-4, 12-2, 12-3

C.Cooley & M.Rees beat F.Barnes & A.Ganguly 12-4, 12-6

Final

D.Redmond & K.White beat C.Cooley & M.Rees 12-2, 12-5, 12-2

I would like to thank all ladies for taking part in the main stages of the event, and all spectators who came to watch the final. I would also like to thank Howard Wiseman for running the event. I do hope to see you all and more at next year’s tournament.