.The top two in Ladies’ Division 1 had easy 4-0 wins: Lee 1sts at Ryde Mead and Chichester 1sts at home to Avenue 2nds. They meet next week with the title at stake.
CourtX 2nds’ second successive 4-0 home win denied Warsash 2nds the chance to draw level with Ryde Lawn atop Ladies’ Division 2 ahead of their clash this weekend.
Ryde Lawn 2nds’ 3-1 defeat of Abshot cast the visitors adrift at the foot of Ladies’ Division 3.
Lee 2nds clinched the Ladies’ Division 3 title by beating their last remaining rivals Fishbourne 1sts 3-1 at home.
It was the same story one division down, when Lee’s 3 rd team beat Fishbourne 2nds 3-1 at home to seal Ladies’ Division 4.
Men’s Division 1 winter champions Warsash 1sts comfortably beat CourtX’s 2nds 4-0 at home to move within three points of leaders Avenue 1sts whom they face weekend.
Ventnor’s 5-4 set home defeat of Avenue 2nds brought the teams level on five points, two ahead of CourtX 2nds.
In Men’s Division 4, Alverstoke 2nds lost 3-1 at Avenue 4ths on Saturday. Darren Harris, Mathew Annand and Darren Humphrey were back on court for them the next day at Ryde Lawn 3rds. With two match tie-break rubbers each, Alverstoke won 40-38 on games to edge above them in the standings.
Steep 1sts were crowned Men’s Division 5 summer champions after a 3-1 win at Warsash 4ths: a fine effort in their debut season.
Chichester 1sts polished their Mixed Division 2 title credentials with a 3-1 win at Bognor as chasers Ryde Lawn 1sts lost a penalty point when they failed to send a team to the league’s most easterly club.
Alverstoke 1sts’ 4-0 win at Chichester 2nds took them top of Mixed Division 3 with only the final round of matches to come.
The rubbers – and points – were shared in the other three matches in this hotly contested division. Abshot beat Rowlands Castle 5-4 on sets on their courts, as did Lee 3rds at Avenue
3rds, while Seacourt edged past Ryde Lawn 2nds by just three games.
Mixed Division 4 is equally competitive and the rubber scores also ended 2-2 in all three matches played, with Steep beating Avenue 4ths at home, Fishbourne defeating visitors Wickham and Southsea 2nds winning at Avenue 5ths: all by one set.
Fishbourne need to take all three points from Steep to snatch the title from them in the division’s final match.
Swanmore had a good week in the masters divisions.
Avenue 1sts laid claim to the runners-up spot in Ladies’ Masters Division 1 with 4-0 wins over strugglers Wickham and Denmead.
Ladies’ Masters Division 2 saw two 5-4 set home wins, for Lee against Swanmore 2nds and for Ryde Lawn 2nds against local rivals Ryde Mead.
Swanmore then went top by overpowering Ryde Lawn 2nds 4-0 at home.
And Swanmore’s Men’s Masters virtually guaranteed they will win their league with a 3-1 win at Wellow.
Chichester went second with a 4-0 defeat of Warsash, while Fishbourne won 3-1 at Rowlands Castle.
Swanmore 2nds moved off the bottom of Mixed Masters Division 2 with a 6-5 set win at Avenue 2nds. Avenue won the first two rubbers on match tie-breaks, but Swanmore won the others on a match tie-break and a second-set tie-break.
Lee won six more games than visitors Warsash to go one point behind Mixed Masters Division 3 leaders Ryde Mead with a match in hand.
Southsea beat Carlton Green 3-1 at home, helped by an injury retirement at the break.
1. Warsash 4 v Steep 1 Mens D5 11.08.2024.jpg
Robin EllisonPicturesWarsash 4ths v Steep 1sts – Men’s Division 5. From left: Kevin Harris, Trevor Gregory, Stephen Carden-Noad, Nick St John (Warsash), Bruce Mellstrom, Martin Ayers, Eddie McShane, Tomasz Podlipny (Steep) Photo: -