JERSEY’S Sara Douglas and Fiona Archibald ended their Commonwealth Games campaign in style with a commanding straight-sets victory over the Falkland Islands on Monday afternoon.
Having narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals, the pair produced one of their strongest performances of the week on Rink 2 at the Scottish Event Campus, cruising to a 5-3, 12-0 victory over Sharon Barnes and Kristiane Thorsen.
Douglas and Archibald settled quickly, racing into a 5-0 lead in the opening set before the Falkland Islands rallied late to reduce the deficit.
The Jerseywomen held their nerve to take the set 5-3 before producing a near-flawless display in the second, conceding just a single shot as they powered to a comprehensive 12-0 success.
“It has been absolutely amazing,” said skip Archibald. “We’ve achieved more than we were expecting ourselves. We came here determined to do our best and I think that’s exactly what we’ve done. We’re delighted with our performances.”
The victory ensured Jersey finished fourth in a highly competitive section with three wins from five matches.
“To come fourth in our group and win three matches is absolutely amazing, especially in our first Commonwealth Games,” added Douglas. “Adjusting to the carpet was our biggest challenge, but I think we’ve proved ourselves really well.
“We were worried people might think our win against Scotland was a fluke, but we’ve proved that it wasn’t. To do that and leave with all these lovely memories is something we’ll cherish.”
Archibald admitted there was no danger of complacency after taking the opening set.
“There’s always that fear when you win the first set that you might relax, but you’ve got to keep on it, and I think we did. We actually upped our game in the second set.”
Elsewhere, Taylor Greechan’s maiden Commonwealth Games campaign draws to a close this evening after a tough loss to his fellow Channel Islander this morning.
Despite Jersey’s success in the Inter Insular over the weekend, Guernsey reigned supreme on the Commonwealth stage. Greechan was beaten by Guernsey’s Jason Greenslade 5-4, 8-4 at the SEC Centre this morning.
Despite not reaching the knockout stages, Greechan showed steady improvement throughout the week.
The 20-year-old recovered from a difficult opening day to claim a memorable victory over Botswana before pushing Namibia’s Waylon Wetzel all the way to a tie-break on Sunday. The Jersey athlete’s Games will conclude today at 4.10pm against Australia’s Aaron Wilson.
Douglas, meanwhile, already had one eye on celebrating Jersey’s successful week.
“I’ve had a cider looking at me in the fridge every day this week,” she laughed. “I think that’s going to be opened later.”
