Cambs Squash

Comberton Village College got their campaign in the Under 15 Boys section of the National Schools Championships off to the perfect start, with a 5-0 win away to Bedford School.

Despite a minor problem in finding the school entrance in heavy traffic we arrived pretty much on time for our match against the independent school. The matches were scored under the new system: point-a-rally to eleven. There was limited time to warm up, and our first two players, Sam Bradshaw at 5 and Will Collett at 4, had trouble adjusting to the unfamiliar courts with their lack of bounce compared to Comberton’s courts. For a while things looked ominous as, playing at the same time on opposite courts, they both lost their opening games. However, they both settled in well from then on and recorded 3-1 wins.

Next up were Tom Blair at 3 and Will Harris at 2. Tom had a very comfortable win against an opponent who seemed overawed by his accurate serving and powerful forehand and backhand drives, and he dropped only four points in the entire match. Will had played hardly any squash through the summer, but had had a "crash course" during the past week, which seemed to have worked well as he steadily overcame a tall and hard-hitting opponent with his superior racket skills – another 3-0 win for Comberton!

Finally, the number ones! Like Will Harris, Tom Symmons had taken the summer off, and wasn’t as fit as usual. He was up against by far the best of the Bedford players, and this made for a really high-quality match. Both players displayed some great skills, and there were some excellent rallies, but in the end Tom’s greater range of shots proved decisive in his 3-1 win.

CVC’s next fixture will be in October, at home to the only other school in our Stage One group, St Peter’s, Huntingdon – WATCH THIS SPACE!!

Ray Scrivens