This Is Guernsey

GUERNSEY have narrowly missed out on retaining the under-18 inter-insular trophy.

The Sarnians had high hopes of victory when they travelled to Jersey on Saturday, the match having been postponed in December due to force 10 winds.

It proved to be a very close and exciting encounter, with the gap between the teams never more than two rubbers until the last four singles matches were played.

It finished Guernsey 19, Jersey 23.

At the end of the boys’ and girls’ doubles, the score was tied at nine-all, but Jersey edged ahead 16-14 after the mixed doubles.

Historically, this would have been the end of the match, but it was agreed that, for the first time, the inter-insular would incorporate singles, with each player playing one rubber against the opposite player of the same rank.

The girls were evenly matched with both Guernsey and Jersey winning three apiece, but the Caesarean boys proved the stronger and sealed the victory with four wins to two.

The top Guernsey players were Kiara Green, Harriet Thoumine and Matt Thoume, each winning five of their six rubbers.

Green dominated the girls’ doubles with partner Miranda Knight, beating each of the three Jersey pairs in straight games.

She also won one of the two mixed-doubles group-A matches with Jed Le Page, but narrowly lost to the top Jersey mixed-doubles pairing of Tom Gibbs and Katherine Thornton, 18-21, 22-24.

In the singles she beat Jersey’s top player Caroline Thornton 21-15, 21-13.

Partnering Jo Stagg, Thoumine did well in the girls’ doubles, winning two out three matches.

She and Thoume won both their mixed-doubles group-B games, beating Matthew Bignell and Emily Temple-Redshaw 21-13, 21-18 and James Le Moignan and Natashes Hutchings 21-13, 21-17.

They also both went on and won their respective singles matches.

Thoume partnered Le Page in the doubles, also winning two from three, the first in a tight three-setter against Bignell and Le Moignan 17-21, 21-17, 22-20, the second 21-17, 23-21 against Peter Blandin and Michael Cheung.

Other notable Guernsey successes were in the boys’ doubles where the pairing of Matt Ceresa and Nick Abbott beat Blandin/Cheung (21-12, 21-6), as did Harry Southwell and Tristan Naylor, but in a much closer match when they edged the third set 21-19.

In mixed group B, Abbott partnering Stagg also had success with an excellent close match against Le Moignan and Hutchings 21-18, 19-21, 21-17 while mixed group C saw Southwell and Candice Crowson beat Blandin and Laura Ferrere 21-19, 21-17.

Abbott also won his singles beating Cheung in two games as did Hannah Greenfield over Ferrara 21-9, 21-11.

With the new American-style scoring system, the players have to win by two clear points if they reach 20-all. If they reach 29-all, the first to 30 points wins.

In two mixed-doubles matches one game went to 27-25, but the Guernsey pairings of Ceresa/Knight and Abbott/Stagg lost out to their Jersey opposition.

‘It was good to see that every one of the Guernsey team won at least one rubber,’ said Jane Mahy, one of the team selectors.

‘We lost six rubbers in three games, which shows how close the match was.

‘We had a relatively young team and all except Green, Knight and Le Page will qualify to play in the U-18 inter-insular next season.

‘We look forward to meeting, and hopefully beating, Jersey in our own hall then.’