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York’s hopes of survival in their BUCS league were given a vital boost with a narrow win against Northumbria.
The victory was secured by Jonty Hiley and Ricky Kanabar who, in their second game, saved five match points against opponents Mike Smith and Ant Norris from 15-20 down to prevail 24-22 winners and stun everybody inside the Main Hall.
It means York strengthen their grip on fourth position in the Northern 1A league as they move further ahead of Sheffield Hallam and Liverpool, who are most likely going to be relegated.
Over the course of the eight matches, York will feel they deserved victory with some excellent performances. Almost all the ties were of exceptional quality as the players time and again produced breathtaking shots.
First up was Baille Waterson against Tom Moore, and the York captain showed a range of flexibility that Novak Djokovic would have been proud of to brilliantly return Moore’s aggressive slams and keep himself in rallies.
Waterson’s own slams were a sight to see as they were consistently scoring points even when hit from the back of the court. His dominance told as he won comfortably 21-12 and 21-16.
Simultaneously, Dan Hirst was battling with Ben Carter. Hirst carelessly netted a couple of simple slams, but impressed with his ability to find the lines with drives and slams, one of which was hit diagonally from one corner and landed in the opposite one.
However, Carter had too much variety for the York man to win 16-21, 13-21 to level the match overall at 1-1.
Then it was time for the first doubles pairings. Jonty Hiley and Ricky Kanabar played brilliantly to befuddle their opponents, who at one point collided into each other in their desperate attempts to stay in a rally.
Hiley and Kanabar changed positions on court and adapted well within rallies; they ended up convincing winners, 21-11, 21-12.
However, Northumbria pegged York back again in the other doubles match. Andy Henderson and Tom Dainty were asking plenty of questions, but were getting clever replies from their opponents who won a tight match 19-21, 15-21.
Returned to singles matches with the scores all level at 2-2, Dan Hirst unfortunately lost second match 17-21 and 18-21. However, Hirst won probably the best rally of the afternoon as both players exchanged drop shots at the net at least four times before bucking the trend and unexpectedly slamming home a winner.
On the adjacent court, though, Waterson took his sparkling form into his tie with Northumbria’s top seed Ben Carter. Carter thought he had won the first game with a huge ‘Come on!’ shout but he had miscalculated to his embarrassment.
Waterson kept his cool, with the proverbial cigar out in the second game, to record a commanding 21-15, 21-4 victory and keep the scores at 3-3.
But York ultimately ended up winning the overall match thanks to the final two doubles games. First, Henderson and Dainty profited from their opponents’ wastefulness and
executed their smashes better than in their previous game to win 21-9 and 21-16.
With a draw guaranteed and the possibility of a win for York, all eyes turned to Hiley and Kanabar’s epic contest against Smith and Norries. The York pairing won the first game 21-16 but it was the second game which was most dramatic.
Northumbria took an early 4-7 lead and continued their advantage to 15-20. But York’s pairing put their necks on the line by taking on the ambitious shots, and it worked.
When it reached 22-22, York had clearly got under the skin of their opponents, who gifted them two cheap points to triumph 24-22 and surrender the match.
Baille Waterson offered his thoughts afterwards: ‘That was insanely good… It’s great to have Ricky and Jonty back playing. We’re now in fourth place and although we’re still not technically safe, we will now be pushing upwards and have a good chance of survival.’
Vision MOTM: Baille Waterson