Where to start on a great weekend for the whole Warwick team?
A huge congratulations to Anthony Church, who had a brilliant run in the individuals; with some dominant performances on his run to the final, just losing out to Bradley Andrews of Sheffield in a high quality match - thoroughly deserved by a great player, he'll be missed next year for sure.
All four of our teams gave valiant performances and I couldn't be happier with all 12 of our players.
Warwick 4 won 2 of their 4 group stage matches, progressing to the Vase Quarter Finals, bowing out to the eventual winners Southampton 4,. Some great shots, and very well done for a team who had hardly any nine ball experience!
Warwick 3, a team with no competitive nine ball experience - so much to say. How about group stage wins against Manchester 2, Birmingham 3 and the aforementioned vase winners Southampton 4, giving them 2nd place in a tough group. This meant they progressed to the Shield, and faced a very good (almuni strong) Hallam 3 in the Quarter Finals. They had the chances but were unable to replicate the amazing form that had got them into that position, but a job very well done.
Warwick 2. An early morning win against Sheffield 2 guaranteed us to progress to the Trophy. In the final group stage match we played Hallam 1. A 3-1 win for Rob Keogh and an exhibition style 3-0 for Sam Olley over the mighty Sean Reynolds giving us a 2-0 win to come second in the so called group of death. Well this meant we got to play Leeds 1 in the championship QF, the same Leeds team that won BUCS nine ball in November and the team that won this comp last year. Rob Keogh raced to a 4-1 win against Paul Allen, before Sam Olley beat BUCS finalist Mike McDermott 4-1 (I chose my teammates wisely), resulting in Warwick 2 crashing out Leeds 1 2-0!! Could we go further? Go all the way??? no. Exeter 2 met us in the semis, and possibly this was a hurdle too far after all the upsets. They played too well, and we couldn't reply as best we tried, but beating Leeds, York and Hallam firsts is such an amazing achievement.
Warwick 1. After closely losing to Leeds 1, the firsts knew their key match was against Manchester 1, and they delivered in a thrilling match which had it all - golden breaks (both allowed and accompanied by a scratch), 3 fouls, and a deciding match going hill-hill! An easy win over Birmingham 2 meant second place and a lovely draw in the championship against Exeter 1 - the very same team that beat the seconds on Saturday. Well this weekend Exeter 1 were untouchable, and who knows, another day maybe, but no shame in going out to the winners of the tournament!
My first tournament as club captain has really shown me that I've got a rather nice job in the year ahead, well done to everyone involved!
Teams:
1sts: Anthony Church (c) Matt Ross Sammy Lee Valder
2nds: Joe Wall (c) Rob Keogh Sam Olley
3rds: Tom James Miller (c) Daniel Ball Martin Barltrop.
4ths: Daniel Hunter (c) Barri Matharu Samuel Cooper