SQUASH: Double joy for LDSC

Luton and Dunstable Squash club (LDS) had three entrants and at the end of the tournament, possessed two winners.

Natalie Main, seeded first in the Girls U11s, was first up against Welsh opponent Eve Griffiths.

Main won the first game comfortably, before Griffiths staged a great fightback to take the second.

However, Main regrouped to run away with the third as Griffiths eventually tired.

In the Girls U13, it was the turn of the elder Main, Lily, to face old adversary from Kenilworth Club, Hannah Rowley.

Main was clearly out of sorts as she lost tamely to an improved Rowley.

Fellow LDS player, Sophia John, in the other half of the draw, despatched Alice Davies very comfortably.

Perhaps strangely the U13 girls found themselves on court again before the U11s next round.

Whilst John won easily again, beating Lucia Avery, the out of sorts Main, went down to Gemma Hopwood in the plate competition, a player she would expect to usually beat comfortably.

Natalie Main returned to the court to see off Isobel Benyon-Cobb from Kenilworth to reach the U11 semi-final, where she faced Madeleine Willers.

The match went the distance as Main struggled with Willers’ clever use of height and at 10-8 down in the deciding game things didn’t look good.

The LDS youngster, however, showed her renowned fighting qualities to save two match balls and triumph 12-10.

In the final, Main faced Edgabston’s Sophia Lee, the surprise conqueror of the tournament’s second seed.

Lee proved the win was no fluke as she traded point for point with Main with some brutal rallies on a very hot court.

It was Main who ultimately took the first 15-13, saving game balls along the way.

The first had clearly taken its toll on Lee as Main exerted her authority with some great length hitting to cruise home in the second.

In the U13 final, John continued her excellent recent form.

Previous meetings between her and her opponent, Worcestershire’s Daisy Hill, had usually gone the distance.

Perhaps that fact was the reason that John seemed to be a little nervous at the outset, but once she found her length Hill had no reply.

The first was comparatively tight, but John ran away with the second holding 10 match balls before winning the title.

Next up for the youngsters will be the prestigious SIP Chiltern Open held at Lewsey on the weekend of May 27 where 158 youngsters will descend from all over the country to compete.