RSRC Finals Night 2023

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Rutland Squash Rackets Club held our 2022-2023 end of season competition finals at the end of March, and members were treated to some superb squash and racketball games.

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Within the Club there is a strong contingent of racketball players who play doubles on a regular basis, and the first final on court provided those spectators who were less familiar with this game a chance to see it played at a highly competitive standard. Brian Margetts and Guy Jones were paired against Ed Crouch and Theo Jones, and it was very much a game of experience versus youth with the combined ages of each pairing being 146 – 49! All four players showed great skill and agility and all three games were closely contested. With Ed and Theo having taken the first game 12-9, Brian and Guy fought back to take the second by the same points margin. The deciding game was a thriller, as Ed and Theo pulled ahead from 4-4 to lead 11-6 and looked to have the match in the bag; but Brian and Guy drew on their experience and clawed back the points to 11-10. The final rally, however, saw the younger pair triumphing and taking the game 12-10.

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The Ladies’ final saw Katharine Gaine up against Helen Ike. A former winner of this competition, Katharine was tipped to win but Helen was determined to put up a real challenge and fight all the way. On a number of occasions Helen produced some superb drives to the back of the court that Katharine was unable to retrieve, but Katharine found her touch with her drop shots which enabled her to win a number of rallies and emerge with a 9-3, 9-2, 9-2 victory.

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Next on the courts were the finals of the Willis Cup and Willis Plate. The Willis Cup is the Club’s premier competition and was contested this year by Jon Wolloff (defending champion) and Philip Bailey (a former champion in 2017). This was an utterly absorbing match which brought many appreciative gasps and rounds of applause from the spectators. Initially Jon was in the driving seat and looked to be in charge as he took the first two games 9-5, 9-6. Philip, however, is renowned for his tenacity and ability to respond when under pressure, and this is exactly what he did. In games three and four Philip (a left-hander) seemed to get the measure of Jon’s notoriously challenging lob serves, particularly on his forehand side, and played returns to such a good length and width onto Jon’s backhand side that the defending champion was unable to counter this attack and suddenly Philip had won the games 9-1, 9-0. Much to the spectators’ delight, there was a deciding game to come and it did not disappoint. Both men were playing outstanding squash and the serve went from one to the other so that after a dozen rallies the points were still level at 2-2. Philip then pulled away to take the lead 7-2, but Jon kept battling and regained the serve and pulled back another point. However, Philip was able to capitalise on his lead and eventually took the final game 9-3.

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The Willis Plate, meanwhile, was being contested between Lee Middleton and Nick Douglass. This was a fast and furious game, with both men hitting the ball at tremendous speed and covering the court with great athleticism. Nick’s powerful serves caused Lee some problems, but Lee produced some beautiful smashes (often with both feet off the ground!) which Nick was unable to retrieve. It was an engrossing match, but Nick just had the edge in each game and won the contest 9-5, 9-4, 9-3.

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The last match of the evening was the final of the Handicap competition and saw the return to court of Jon Wolloff and Lee Middleton, both of whom had already played very competitive matches. The handicapping scores meant that Lee had a four point advantage, but with point per rally scoring this can be quickly eradicated. In the first game Lee managed to keep his nose in front to win 25-19, but Jon turned things around in the second game, taking it 25-15. So it was down to the deciding game, and at 17-17 it was still uncertain as to who would take the trophy. A string of precision serves from Jon moved him ahead to 22-17, but Lee then gained another couple of points to take it to 22-19. The last three rallies were thrilling to watch, but in the end Jon prevailed and took the game 25-19.

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Rutland Squash Rackets Club is based at the Uppingham School old courts and is fortunate to be sponsored by The Vaults in Uppingham, and it was a great pleasure and privilege to have the manager of The Vaults – James Torbell – to present the prizes to the finalists at the end of the evening.

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In addition to the competitions, there is also a regular league competition that runs from October to March, with the winner gaining the Myles Knauer League Cup. This season the cup was awarded to Ben Harford, with Charlie Plows as runner-up.

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Willis Cup 2022-2023

Winner: Philip Bailey   Runner-up: Jon Wolloff

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Willis Plate 2022-2023

Winner: Nick Douglass  Runner-up: Lee Middleton

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Handicap Cup 2022-2023

Winner: Jon Wolloff   Runner-up: Lee Middleton

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RSRC Ladies Cup 2022-2023

Winner: Katharine Gaine  Runner-up: Helen Ike

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RSRC League 2022-2023

Winner: Ben Harford  Runner-up: Charlie Plows

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The Willis Cup and Plate Competition

To view the routes to the finals, click here

To view the Competition rules, click here

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The RSRC Handicap Competition

To view the route to the final, click here

To view the Competition rules, click here

To view the Handicap scores, click here

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