ALBANY B sealed the Isle of Man Lawn Tennis Association’s PokerStars-sponsored Mixed Division Three title in style last week, writes Neil Ronan.
It was a case of top versus bottom, with Castletown E taking on Albany B at Town’s Malew Street courts. As was expected Albany took the victory quite comfortably with Jane Reynolds and Jim Travers winning their three sets 6-1, 6-0 against Isla Reeves and Andy Cooil and then 6-0 against Helen Mason and Yanchun Wang.
Katie Harris and Alistair Montgomery were similarly ruthless winning their three sets 6-4, 6-0 against Mason and Wang and 6-0 against Reeves and Cooil.
This meant that in five matches Albany B have dropped only one set giving them promotion to Division Two next season with a match to spare.
There was a good close tussle in Division Four this week between Albany C and Kensington Road C. At first pair for Albany were John Pearson and Sarah Wilton, who took on Kensington Road’s Linda Faragher and Dave Emmett. This proved to be two very close sets which in the end were halved, Pearson and Wilton taking the first 6-3 and Faragher and Emmett taking the second 7-5.
On court two Albany’s second pairing were finding things a little easier with Gillian Pearson and Adam Pyatt-Coppell beating league debutant John Halligan and his partner Jenny Caldwell 6-1, 6-2.
This meant that Kensington Road had to win both the final sets to grab a draw. This, however, wasn’t quite to be with Faragher and Emmett winning their’s 6-1 before Halligan and Caldwell lost 3-6. Match result 4-2 to Albany C.
With only a week of scheduled fixtures left to play, three of the four divisions are still left in the balance.
Castletown A look favourites to take Division One, while Kensington Road A are looking good for Division Two. Albany C currently top Division Four.
There are a number of teams in each division either fighting for survival or still in with an outside chance of taking victory.
Other results from Mixed League week six were - Division One Castletown B 2 (Laura Gardner and Rob Mason 1, Justine Torry and Neil Ronan 1), Castletown A 4 (Hannah Snidal and Craig Blackwell 1, Lucy Kerr and Roy Wilson 3); Albany A 5 (Laura Feely and Marc Chinn 3, Anna Jones and Ian Watson 2), Castletown C 1 (Justine Torry and Alan Macnair 1). Division Two Kensington Road B 1 (Seraphina Batty and Ron Sibthorpe 1), Ramsey A 5 (Jane Cowley and Jack Hedges 3, Linda Bates and Brian Kelly 2); Castletown D 4 (Kirree Ronan and Richard Kerr 3, Nicola Skillicorn and Norman Lewis 1), Kensington Road A 1 (Greta Kaslik and Steve Bennett 1), one set not completed because of bad light. Division Three: Ramsey B 2 (Richard Simpson and Michele Simpson 2), Port Erin A 3 (Simon Jones and Lynda Cadamy 1, Chris Chrome and Elizabeth Kershaw 2). Division One: Castletown A 5 (Lucy Kerr and Roy Wilson 3, Hannah Snidal and Rob Mason 2), Castletown C 1 (Sarah Breed and Alan Macnair 1).