Comberton usually enter an Under 15 Boys’ team in this competition, but as our strength in the boys’ section was greater in the Under 19 category, thanks to the new Sixth Form and its Squash Academy, we opted for the older age-group this season.
We had a good run in Stage One (the group stage), beating Bedford School and Hills Road Sixth Form College, though losing narrowly against Berkhamsted School. CVC ended up as runners-up in the group and were drawn away to Brentwood School in Essex in the first round of the knockout stage. Unfortunately for us, our no. 1 string, Jeremy Harris, injured himself before the match against Brentwood, which left the rest of the team playing stronger opponents than we had expected.
Our team nevertheless put up a great fight, with all five players winning at least one game. Mark Dancy at 5 and Nick White at 4 both looked well capable of beating their opponents, but both lost narrowly (Mark 3-1 and Nick 3-2). Marcus Wing at 3 started nervously, but after scraping through the opening game improved steadily to win 3-0. Todd Roberts at 2 was handicapped by a migraine, but still battled valiantly, losing 3-1 to a skilful opponent. With the tie now lost, it was left to Laurence Temple to provide a dazzling display against the Brentwood no. 1 for a comfortable 3-0 victory. Overall we could not quite manage to progress further in the competition, but can take comfort from the fact that we reached the last 32 in England (and also that we actually outscored Brentwood in games 10-9!).
Well done to all the squad, including of course Jeremy Harris and Henry Prime, who had represented the school in Stage One matches.
Ray Scrivens
Team Manager
