[visiongallery set=72157629460424383]
Photos: Kathy Burke
The tie kicked off with two singles matches – the precise and fierce shots of York’s first seed Baillie Watterson saw off Hull’s second seed Tom Addis 21-9, 21-12 to give York a good start.
However on the other court Dan Hirst, York second seed, was less successful, losing his first game 7-21 to Hull’s Mark Harrison and, despite coming back in the second game leading to a nail-biting final few points, was unlucky to lose it 19-21.
So the scores were level at 1-1 when the first two doubles matches took to the courts. Both York pairs came up against tricky opposition but both hung on for victory over Hull. Andy Henderson and Tom Dainty beat Barrat and Hardy of Hull 21-14, 21-16 whilst Tim Robson and Tan Jun Chuen, as the underdogs, pulled off an impressive win over Hull’s Davis and Cockshitt 21-18, 21-17.
Now were the two most interesting matches of the tie, with the two second seeds and first seeds playing each other. Dan Hirst was again unlucky to lose 19-21 in the first game of his match against Tom Addis – the same score-line which saw him lose his previous match.
However Addis was visibly tired after winning the first game and Hirst did well to capitalise, winning the second quite comfortably 21-9. The fatigued Addis received a motivational talk from one of his team-mates before they entered the deciding game, and although he stepped up his game, lost 18-21. The successful comeback from Hirst prompted a lot of vocal support from the York camp.
Equally thrilling was the single first seeds’ match, with Baillie Watterson taking on Mark Harrison of Hull. Watterson had to work much harder during this match than in his previous one and was put on the back-foot once Harrison won the first game 16-21.
But Watterson dug deep and produced an astounding performance in the second game, at one point doing the splits to try to reach a shot as well as losing his glasses twice. The hard work paid off, as York’s first seed won the second game 22-20 – a result he was clearly delighted with. However, the deciding game ultimately didn’t go his way, with Harrison winning 18-21.
Despite his loss, an out-of-breath Baillie Watterson said he was pleased with his performance: “It’s been a long time since we’ve played singles competitively,” he said. “The rest of the team have been playing very well.”
After the excitement of the two singles matches, the final two doubles were relatively straight-forward for York, with Henderson and Dainty beating Davies and Cockshutt 21-14, 21-12 and Robson and Cheon beating Barrat and Hardy 23-21, 21-10.
The men’s badminton team from York were high-spirited as the tie drew to a close, having secured an important and well-deserved three points for the university in Varsity, winning the tie 6-2. Hull go back to East Yorkshire empty-handed.