MIXED FORTUNES FOR WINDSCALES COUNTY JUNIORS

Windscale Squash Club had a number of juniors on County duty recently at various locations around the north of England.

Photo left to right, Ross Singleton (Windscale) Daniel Harrison (Whitehaven) Jackson Holliday (Windscale) Daniel Askew, John Kemp ( both Wigton).

Most successful were our Under 13 boys, playing at Stockport, Cumbria beat Lancashire, Cheshire, and North Wales to top the group. Star of the Cumbrian team was 10 year old Ross Singleton who played at No5 and won all three of his games to give the team a great starting platform for each match. Playing No1 was Jackson Holliday found the going a bit tougher having lost his two opening matches, his final match against North Wales he went 2-0 down but an impressive fight back saw him win 3-2 to help Cumbria achieve a fantastic result for the weekend.

Jackson was Windscale's only representative in Cumbria U15 boys match at Dalton-in-Furness versus Durham & Cleveland and Northumbria. A disasterous set of  results for the U 15's as they failed to win a match all weekend, with Jackson being the only player to win a game on their way to two whitewash defeats.

Under 17 boys faced a tough weekend at Yarm playing Durham & Cleveland, Northumbria, and Yorkshire. Peter Wallace played No3, and despite some valiant efforts failed to win a game as he slumped to three defeats. At No1 was Ryan Doran displaying much improved form, however his opponents were top class players and he also lost three times but managed to secure three games in doing so. These were to be the only games won by a Cumbrian player in a disappointing weekend as they lost every fixture 5-0.

Windscale had four players on the U17 girls team, but Louisa McGregor had to withdraw through injury, and with the reserve unavailable it meant they traveled to Prestwich, Manchester, with only four players. Against North Wales Megan Singleton played No4 and went down 3-1 after a good effort, Hannah Crichton was at No2 and despite every game being close lost 3-0, which left Jessica Winder at No1 against Welsh No1 and British U13 Junior champion Elin Harlow. At 1-1 it was tight, but Jess maintained the pressure and won 3-1 and gained Cumbria's only victory.

Against Lancashire all three Windscale girls won 3-0 giving Cumbria victory 3-2.

Northumbria were the final fixture, Megan lost 3-1 in a close match, losing the fourth game 12-10. Hannah was unusually feisty in a very tight bad-tempered encounter, eventually going down 3-1, this left Jess to try and save Cumbrian pride against British U15 Junior champion Lucy Beecroft.  Jess lost the first game 11-8 after a good battle, but could not maintain that standard and lost 3-0, which meant they lost the fixture 5-0, and finished the weekend third overall.