Semifinals were upon us and finals fever fuelled some tough matches.
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A two week delay perhaps even heightened the atmosphere.
Our semifinals and grand finals had all the expected thrills with that good-natured competitive spirit ensuring three entertaining nights of great squash.
Wednesday evening's semis lineup had four remaining teams of five tussling it out, with Burtons versus D Bils and Benticks versus W Bils.
Burton's Captain, Luke led the way taking three sets off opponent Danny, Hannah Nixon beat Jack Beaudin; 15-13,17-15, 13-15, 8-15, 15-8 and Sam Rath beat sub Harry Bilsborough 3-1 but Jan Berger lost to Chris Cogswell 0-3 and Kasey Kinsey lost to Gabe M McMillan 0-3.
These results saw Burtos lose by one point sending consistent comp leaders D Bils to a Finals destination.
Next door, Bentick's Shelly lost to W Bil's Wayne 0-3 and Isaac Barnard lost to Kim Chudleigh 1-3 giving W Bils a lead but Ben Barnard as sub beat Austen Brown; 15-10, 13-15, 15-10, 16-18, 15-11.
Then Jono Webb beat Isaac Berger 3-0 and Claire Bayley beat sub Harry Bilsborough 3-2 handing the comp's no 2 team Benticks a finals spot.
Thursday's semis with four teams of six competitors included Pipers against Millers where Team leaders Darryn and Lockie played four furious sets which Darryn won, Weivan Huang lost to Jason Mallon 0-3 and also to Adam Chudleigh 2-3, Pete Thompson lost to Henry Kross 0-3 and Pete Cowhan lost sets two, three and five to Cam Toole; 14-16, 14-16 and 14-16.
At this stage Den Haynes was required to take a set from Scott Webb to even the scores for a count back but was unsuccessful losing to Scott; 3-15, 12-15, 8-15 so giving Millers a two point totals win to claim the finals birth.
On the neighboring court comp leaders Krosses were up against Dawes in fourth position.
Jay had a fifth set win 15-10 over Ollie and in a possible upset Brendon Allegri lost 7-15, 7-15, 7-15 to Dan Bayley, Mark Webb lost also to Haig Carlisle 0-3, Bec Connell lost to Dan Bayley 2-3, Max Ridley lost to Steve Allegri 1-3 and Brad Hardy beat Brother Marc 3-1.
But it was too late for Krosses by then who lost 16 to Dawes 26 points giving the latter the coveted finals entry.
On the Friday Night Finals, Wednesday's favourites D Bils looked strong and didn't disappoint.
Alex Bayley subbed for Michelle Bentick but lost to Danny Bilsborough 0-3, Thom Burton and Isaac Barnard lost their matches 0-3 to consistent players Christine Cogswell and Gabe M Mcmillan.
And despite excellent wins by future court stars Jono Webb and Claire Bayley over Jack Beaudin and Luke Bilsborough respectfully, Benticks lost their finals campaign to D Bils 14 points to 21.
So comp leaders D Bils fulfilled expectations and were crowned Autumn Comp Wednesday Night Victors for 2021.
Thursday's Finalists Millers and Dawes did well to keep the number one and two teams out of finals contention.
The Captains, Lockie and Ollie had an amazing three set match.
A performance of power and touch strokes swung both ways points wise until Lockie won the third set 15-12.
Henry Kross in a top effort beat Dan Bayley 3-0, in perhaps the 'Match of the Finals' Cam Toole and Haig Carlisle revved through five full sets ; 16-14, 15-7, 9-15, 15-17 but Cam swept ahead to take the fifth 15-9.
Scott Webb in another fine display of power squash beat Dan Bentick 3-0, and fitman Weivan Huang lost to Steve Allegri and Marc Hardy 0-3.
So congratulations to Millers, the third placed comp team who came up with the goods when needed to grasp the finals win with both hands.
