Jersey’s Chris Agathangelou/Lucy Burns took the plaudits in Mixed Division I, going through the first half of the season without dropping a set, while in Ladies I Annabelle Lea/Natalie White showed a clean pair of heels to the rest.
Matters were not so straightforward in Men’s I, with favourites Gavin Carter/Clive Dunford from the Jersey club narrowly topping the division by virtue of a last-fixture defeat of title rivals Peter Blandin/David Luce of Grainville.
But it came down to a countback on the number of match points won by both pairs.
In Mixed II, a last-night collapse by Flyers’ Nick Thorne/Annabelle Lea dashed their promotion hopes.
At the start of the evening they sat two points behind second-placed Steve Le Roy/Susie Taylor from Hawks, with a game in hand and promotion beckoning.
Having comfortably taken the first set 15-4 in their opening match against relegation threatened Clive Bishop/Anita Blandin of Grainville their opponents bounced back to win the next two 15-12, 15-13.
Despite this reverse Thorne/Lea had moved to within a point of Le Roy/Taylor.
This should have made for an exciting encounter in the final fixture, but the match turned out to be an anti-climax with Le Roy/Taylor meeting little resistance from Thorne/Lea to walk away comfortable winners 15-1, 15-3.
A bitter-sweet moment for the amiable Le Roy who was playing his last game in the Island before starting a new life with his family in Scotland.
In fact, as soon as the game had finished he was making his way to the harbour to catch the boat! With Le Roy’s departure Taylor will most likely be partnered in the second half of the season by Matt Le Moeur who recently featured for the RSL team that performed with so much credit in Guernsey recently.
The surprise package in Mixed I were Grainville’s Andy Taylor/ Trish O’Brien who finished the session strongly to jump from a lowly eighth place to finish runners-up! A mere three points separated the bottom five teams in this division with Grainville’s Kevin Armstrong/Christine Powell and Hawks’ Steve Bealey/Anne Kent being the unfortunate pairs dropping down to Division II.
In Mixed II, Bishop/Blandin’s earlier victory over Thorne/Lea had given them real hope of avoiding the drop and with their tails well and truly up went back on court to play St John’s John Laurens/Marian Goguelin to recorded a convincing 15-3, 15-7 victory to consign Flyers’ Dave Siouville/ Jan Hardwidge, together with Hawks’ Gregg Storrie/Carmen Cann, to Division III.
The two pairs promoted from Mixed III are husband and wife Mark and Anne Hopwood from Hawks and Flyers’ Richard Carter/Jill Luce (who stood in for the injured Nicky Taylor).
Both won their matches on the final night to underline their status.
Gavin Carter/Clive Dunford’s finish at the top of Men’s I was not only down to their 15-6, 15-4 win on the last night against rivals Peter Blandin/David Luce but, ironically, thanks to Blandin/Luce’s 15-5, 15-4 defeat of Flyers Tim & Nick Thorne the previous week which put paid to the brothers’ championship hopes.
A long-term injury was the reason for Jersey’s Chris Agathangelou/ Colin Hardwidge being unable to complete any of their matches in the first half of the season and it remains to be seen if the pair participate in the New Year.
The two promoted teams from Men’s II have been known for some time now – Monty’s John Wood/Paul Deveney and Flyers’ Andy Taylor/Michael Stock.
Taking the drop to Division III are Flyers’ Steve Tanner/Adie Campion and Hawks’ Tony Dubras/Steve Le Roy.
In Men’s III Grainville’s experienced pairing of Clive Bishop/Kevin Jones moved from third to top thanks mainly to a convincing 15-11, 15-4 win against title rivals John Burns/Mark Hopwood of Hawks’.
It was not all bad news for the Hawks pair who retained second place two points ahead of Flyers Mike Smith/Andy Norman.
Jersey’s Jody Mercier/Tracy Hudson lost their chance of mounting a serious challenge to Flyers’ Annabelle Lea/Natalie White in Ladies I when they conceded their match to the Flyers’ pair.
Grainville’s Dimple Mukhi/ Christine Powell have performed with great credit this term and fully deserve their third-place finish.
The two teams who will face the second half of the season in Division II are Monty’s Julie Kleis/Karen Jandron, together with Hawks’ Anne Kent/Susie Taylor.
In Ladies II, Grainville’s Maria Duhamel/Julia Parker won their last two matches in straight sets to leap-frog Hawks’ Carmen Cann/Anne Hopwood to go top.
Joining them in Division I will be Cann/Hopwood who finished four points clear of their nearest rivals.
