The University of Nottingham (UoN) Squash Team won comfortably against the Nottingham Trent University (NTU) Squash Team, to give UoN a 4-1 lead in the Super Wednesday event.
UoN sped straight to a victory in the first three games, before Trent managed to claw the last two back and give the score a respectable feel to it.
The fixture was formatted around five games: four men’s and one women’s playing across two courts. Each game was the best of five sets, with a set awarded when a player reached 11 points. The viewing galleries were packed to the rafters by Trent and UoN supporters, all ready to watch some good ol’ squash!
SQUASH: First set on Court 2 goes to UoN 11-1 for Nick Ratmarajah pic.twitter.com/XDfMcv3AOI
— Impact Varsity 2016 (@ImpactVarsity16) May 4, 2016
The game on Court 2 got off to a smashing start, with Nick Ratnarajah from UoN beating Andy Paczy-Smith in straight sets. The first two were taken easily at 11-1 11-3, but Trent showed spirit in the final set, eventually losing the final set 11-9.
In the meantime, play had been delayed on Court 1 due to an AWOL player. However, when play finally kicked off Hana Bassem Ramadam was quick to win another point for UoN, beating Emily Heyes in straight sets, to make it 2-0 to UoN.
The Green and Gold victory came in the third game, where Tom Bailey saw off Jake Eden in just three sets, with a 3-0 lead meaning that Trent could not catch UoN.
Trent’s determination only seemed to double after losing the first three matches
It looked like UoN were on for a whitewash victory, before Ben Windle was defeated in four sets by Trent’s Adam Pritchard. This was a very tough game, with nobody letting a point slip. Trent’s determination only seemed to double after losing the first three matches. Pritchard came off court saying it was the best performance of his life.
While the Trent squash was commendable, there were times when it was all too easy to have a few laughs on behalf of the former Poly. From the official fixture list that spelt Uni Of with an extra F (UNI OFF) to the spectator who asked what the special squash terminology was for ‘he won’.
If you can’t spell uni go to Trent #nottsvarsity #unioff #greenandgold pic.twitter.com/fOY6PzQ1mz
— Impact Varsity 2016 (@ImpactVarsity16) May 4, 2016
The final game shaped up to be another success for the NTU squash side, with Adam Turner taking a victory over Rory Birtwistle. It was enough to prevent an all-out disaster for the Trent squash team and allowed both teams to leave the courts with their heads held high.
Words by Rachel Lewis.
Images: IMPACT Images Team
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