Week 6 saw five of our teams in action, with a mix of results and plenty of drama across the divisions.
Team 1 – Premier Division
Penicuik I hosted North Merchiston I on Wednesday night and delivered a dominant performance, running out 10-0 winners. Colin Green, Peter Aird, and Ryan Docherty were in imperious form, each winning all three of their singles matches. The doubles pairing of Colin and Ryan also secured victory, ensuring a clean sweep for the home side. There were a couple of close encounters, Peter was pushed to five ends by Quentin Renau, and Colin dropped an end to both Artur Labecki and Quentin, but overall, the result was never in doubt. A statement win that keeps Team 1 firmly at the right end of the table.
Team 2 – Division 1
It was a tough night for Penicuik II as they travelled to face Edinburgh International II. The hosts proved too strong, inflicting a 9-1 defeat on the visitors. The only bright spot came in the final match of the night, with Greig McDonell managing to win a match to avoid a whitewash! There were also some close contests but in the end the home side’s strength in depth showed. A night to forget for Team 2.
Team 4 – Division 3
Friday night saw Penicuik IV make the long trip to Dunbar where they edged a thrilling encounter 6-4. Aidan Craig was the standout player on the night, notching up a superb hat-trick of singles wins, each one hard-earned. His opening match set the tone, after dropping the first end heavily to Lukasz Kabat, Aidan found his rhythm and reeled off three consecutive ends to take the match. Jay Jayalath also played a pivotal role, picking up two singles victories. Jay’s first win came in a five-end epic against Neil Paterson, showing great composure to close it out 11-7 in the fifth. Going into the doubles the East Lothian side had clawed back the scores to 3-3. Aidan & Jay were victorious to give the visitors the advantage again, but the East Lothian outfit then levelled the match again at 4-4 going into the final two matches of the night. Aidan secured a point for the team before Jay followed that up with a straight-sets win over Lukasz Kabat in the final match of the night, sealing the overall victory for the visitors. A fantastic away result that keeps Team 4’s momentum going in Division 3.
Team 5 – Division 4
Penicuik V faced Murrayfield XI at Ladywood and were unlucky as they fell to a 7-3 defeat. Rachel Petrie had a good night picking up two singles wins. Matches often turn on just a few points and that was the story again for Team 4 - Roscoe lost out in five ends in Match 4 and a five-end loss in the doubles with Rachel was the difference on the night. A disappointing result but Team 5 know they’re not far away from picking up a positive result.
Team 6 – Division 5
Team 6 travelled to Edinburgh International IV and came up just short, losing 6-4 in a competitive match. John Grant was the best performer on the night for the visitors, winning two singles matches and combining with Tony Walker for a doubles victory. Tony also picked up a singles win, but both he and John left Edinburgh with a degree of disappointment as they lost a couple of epic battles - John lost out in five to Chelsea Wong, and Tony was edged out in five by Mike Eggar. A narrow defeat, but plenty of positives to take from the performance.
Player of The Week
And so, to our Player of the Week Award for Week 6. All of Team 1 were undefeated in singles play and Ryan and Colin combined for a doubles win. A fantastic result for our first team and at the weekend all three players were in good form at the Scottish Veterans Assessment tournament. Ryan finished 4th in the Over 40s, Colin was 3rd in the Over 60’s and having reached the grand old age of 70, Peter secured a 2nd place finish in the Over 70s. Well done to all of them on a fantastic week. But the award, for the second time this season, has to go to a youngster who continues to impress in Division 3. In a fiercely contested away match at Dunbar, Aidan delivered a flawless hat-trick of singles wins and also played a crucial role in the doubles, partnering with Jay to secure a vital victory – his wins tipped the match in Penicuik’s favour and were instrumental in Team 4’s 6-4 victory. Most impressive of all is that Aidan has played 12 matches so far in Division 3 and has won all 12 of them. Keep it going young man - a thoroughly deserving recipient of the Player of the Week award.
Controversies?
Normally the Vets tournaments can prove that it’s not just youngsters who have issues with their bad tempers, but on this occasion, everything seemed to proceed smoothly and, in the main, quietly. Team 1 v North Merchiston often throws up some controversial moments but nothing there either! What is happening this season? The only issue reported this week comes from Teams 2 and 6 (James again) who played at Edinburgh International. They have an amazing air conditioning system in place at the School Gym Hall – one of the strongest systems we’ve ever come across. According to James it sometimes felt like he was playing on an outside table down by the sand in Portobello (maybe a slight exaggeration, James)! It’s something that even the home players complain about – we spoke to Ed Int Team 1’s Brian Wright at the weekend and he talked about it without any encouragement from us – he has one of the highest service throw ups in the league and felt that at times the ball was being blown off course by the “wind”. Not ideal conditions but we suppose it was the same for everyone.
On to Week 7 we roll.
Team 1 – Premier Division
Penicuik I hosted North Merchiston I on Wednesday night and delivered a dominant performance, running out 10-0 winners. Colin Green, Peter Aird, and Ryan Docherty were in imperious form, each winning all three of their singles matches. The doubles pairing of Colin and Ryan also secured victory, ensuring a clean sweep for the home side. There were a couple of close encounters, Peter was pushed to five ends by Quentin Renau, and Colin dropped an end to both Artur Labecki and Quentin, but overall, the result was never in doubt. A statement win that keeps Team 1 firmly at the right end of the table.
Team 2 – Division 1
It was a tough night for Penicuik II as they travelled to face Edinburgh International II. The hosts proved too strong, inflicting a 9-1 defeat on the visitors. The only bright spot came in the final match of the night, with Greig McDonell managing to win a match to avoid a whitewash! There were also some close contests but in the end the home side’s strength in depth showed. A night to forget for Team 2.
Team 4 – Division 3
Friday night saw Penicuik IV make the long trip to Dunbar where they edged a thrilling encounter 6-4. Aidan Craig was the standout player on the night, notching up a superb hat-trick of singles wins, each one hard-earned. His opening match set the tone, after dropping the first end heavily to Lukasz Kabat, Aidan found his rhythm and reeled off three consecutive ends to take the match. Jay Jayalath also played a pivotal role, picking up two singles victories. Jay’s first win came in a five-end epic against Neil Paterson, showing great composure to close it out 11-7 in the fifth. Going into the doubles the East Lothian side had clawed back the scores to 3-3. Aidan & Jay were victorious to give the visitors the advantage again, but the East Lothian outfit then levelled the match again at 4-4 going into the final two matches of the night. Aidan secured a point for the team before Jay followed that up with a straight-sets win over Lukasz Kabat in the final match of the night, sealing the overall victory for the visitors. A fantastic away result that keeps Team 4’s momentum going in Division 3.
Team 5 – Division 4
Penicuik V faced Murrayfield XI at Ladywood and were unlucky as they fell to a 7-3 defeat. Rachel Petrie had a good night picking up two singles wins. Matches often turn on just a few points and that was the story again for Team 4 - Roscoe lost out in five ends in Match 4 and a five-end loss in the doubles with Rachel was the difference on the night. A disappointing result but Team 5 know they’re not far away from picking up a positive result.
Team 6 – Division 5
Team 6 travelled to Edinburgh International IV and came up just short, losing 6-4 in a competitive match. John Grant was the best performer on the night for the visitors, winning two singles matches and combining with Tony Walker for a doubles victory. Tony also picked up a singles win, but both he and John left Edinburgh with a degree of disappointment as they lost a couple of epic battles - John lost out in five to Chelsea Wong, and Tony was edged out in five by Mike Eggar. A narrow defeat, but plenty of positives to take from the performance.
Player of The Week
And so, to our Player of the Week Award for Week 6. All of Team 1 were undefeated in singles play and Ryan and Colin combined for a doubles win. A fantastic result for our first team and at the weekend all three players were in good form at the Scottish Veterans Assessment tournament. Ryan finished 4th in the Over 40s, Colin was 3rd in the Over 60’s and having reached the grand old age of 70, Peter secured a 2nd place finish in the Over 70s. Well done to all of them on a fantastic week. But the award, for the second time this season, has to go to a youngster who continues to impress in Division 3. In a fiercely contested away match at Dunbar, Aidan delivered a flawless hat-trick of singles wins and also played a crucial role in the doubles, partnering with Jay to secure a vital victory – his wins tipped the match in Penicuik’s favour and were instrumental in Team 4’s 6-4 victory. Most impressive of all is that Aidan has played 12 matches so far in Division 3 and has won all 12 of them. Keep it going young man - a thoroughly deserving recipient of the Player of the Week award.
Controversies?
Normally the Vets tournaments can prove that it’s not just youngsters who have issues with their bad tempers, but on this occasion, everything seemed to proceed smoothly and, in the main, quietly. Team 1 v North Merchiston often throws up some controversial moments but nothing there either! What is happening this season? The only issue reported this week comes from Teams 2 and 6 (James again) who played at Edinburgh International. They have an amazing air conditioning system in place at the School Gym Hall – one of the strongest systems we’ve ever come across. According to James it sometimes felt like he was playing on an outside table down by the sand in Portobello (maybe a slight exaggeration, James)! It’s something that even the home players complain about – we spoke to Ed Int Team 1’s Brian Wright at the weekend and he talked about it without any encouragement from us – he has one of the highest service throw ups in the league and felt that at times the ball was being blown off course by the “wind”. Not ideal conditions but we suppose it was the same for everyone.
On to Week 7 we roll.
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