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Queens A retained their Division One title without having to step on court after Ringswell A lost their final match to Exeter B. Queens had only needed one point in their final fixture to mathematically secure the crown, but were handed the title when Exeter B beat Ringswell A 7-2. Sam Owens/Katie Scotter were unbeaten for Exeter, as Nigel Osborne/Erin Whitten won two rubbers for Ringswell which was enough to finish second. Queens A then were given a walkover against St Leonards A who were unable to field a team and were already consigned to finishing bottom. Queens B had already won Division 2A, but just like in the top division, Ringswell finished second. Despite four of the nine rubbers going to three sets, Ringswell B beat Otter Vale 9-0 before doing just about enough despite a 5-4 loss to Sidmouth A to finish second by three points.  John Carter/Rachel Irish were unbeaten for

 Exeter D could not make 2 Become 1 but nevertheless secured 2nd place in Division 3A with a battling 6-3 win over Chulmleigh B, with Chulmleigh A winning this League. Exeter were missing 3 regular players but the reserves of Ian Halliday, Jon Baker and Kes Krishnamma-Hillier all played their part in the win, alongside the regulars of Jeremy Smith, Richard Grigg and Prakash Kripakaran. St Leonards D overcame Honiton B 7-2 thanks to an unbeaten performance from Lee Clatworthy and Mike Lamboll. Ben and Tom Bennett got on the scoresheet for Honiton with 2 wins. St Leonards D then beat Otter Vale B, 8-1, with the pairings of Martin Weller/Lee Clatworthy and Neil Robson/Martin Matthews winning 3 and Mike Lamboll/Barrie Sharman bagging a brace of wins. Andy O’Brien and Simon Witts picked up the solitary point for Otter Vale.

Queens A are on the verge of retaining their Division One Mixed title after winning their top of the table title decider against Exeter A 6-3. Sam Lees/Julia Melling won all three rubbers for Exeter, but Jamie Roberton/Jenny Maddison, Lloyd Skinner/Mandy Bishop and Ian Kirby/Jackie Kirby each won two rubbers each to give Queens one hand on the trophy. They will secure the title if they beat St Leonards A in their last match. Ringswell A can still pip them to the title though if Queens slip up, and have secured at least second place after a 7-2 win over Exeter A. Again it was Lees/Melling who won the points for Exeter A, winning two rubbers and losing a third 23-21 in the deciding set, but unbeaten Ian Walsh/Jess Hill led Ringswell to victory and leaves them seven points behind Queens A with one game to play. Exeter B beat St Leonards A 8-1 in a potential

Queens A are still top of Division 1 of the Mixed league, but have had their lead over Exeter A cut to just four points – and they have Exeter B to thank for it. Exeter A completed the double over St Leonards A with their second 9-0 win of the season against them. But despite only managing to field two pairs, Exeter B, who have lost all six matches this season and sit bottom of the table, took two points off Queens A in a 7-2 loss, with Sam Owens/Katie Scotter winning two of their three matches. Jamie Roberton/Bronya Pike were unbeaten for Queens. Ringswell A remain third, eight points off the top, but the title decider looks to be Exeter A vs Queens A on Monday, March 26. Queens B are still favourites to win Division 2A after they beat Sidmouth A 6-3 to give themselves an 11-point cushion at the top. Five of the

Queens looked set to win both Division 1 and Division 2A, but two defeats to Ringswell sides have thrown the divisions wide open. Four wins from win for Queens A put them top of Division 1, but they suffered a shock 5-4 loss at home to Ringswell A in the reverse fixture. Sarah Preece/Zac Phillips won all three rubbers for the Crediton-based club, but Ringswell rallied with Erin Whitten/Nigel Osbourne, Jess Hill/Ian Walsh and Claire Harrison/Tony Clark all chipping in, before Harrison/Clark came from behind to beat Jackie Kirby/Ian Kirby 15-21, 21-16, 21-14 in the decisive ninth rubber. And a 7-2 win for Ringswell over St Leonards A has taken them to the top of the table, although just by a single point having played one game more. Whitten/Osbourne and Harrison/Clark were unbeaten for Ringswell in a match that saw five rubbers go to three sets. Exeter A are third after a

 The first of this season’s annual tournaments took place at Maynard School in November and all the competitions were run as round robin events.  The most successful player was Exeter’s Sam Owens - Sam won the Singles and then teamed up with Mark Trebble to win the men’s doubles and his mother, Suzanne, to win the mixed title for the second time together.  There were 4 groups of players in the Men’s Singles with the winners of each group contesting the semi-finals where Zac Phillips (Queens) defeated Jamie Roberton (Queens) 21-13, 21-16 and Sam Owens defeated last year’s champion, Geoff Littler (Exeter) 21-18, 19-21, 21-15.  In the final Sam Owens defeated the 2016 champion, Zac Phillips, 20-22, 21-8, 21-11.  There were 14 pairs in the Men’s Doubles divided into 4 groups.  In the semi-finals Sam Owens and Mark Trebble (

The last six weeks have only seen six matches take place in the Mixed league – and the tale of the tape has stayed very much the same. Queens A, Queens B and St Leonards C still lead the way and all three teams have stretched their leads with 9-0 wins. Queens A remain top of the table in Division One and stay undefeated after a 9-0 win against St Leonards A. The Crediton side though were pushed close as five of the nine rubbers went the distance, but they did manage to win all of the deciders. They have an 11 point lead over Ringswell A, but Exeter A are just two further points behind after they beat their B team 8-1 with Geoff Littler/Rowan Despard scoring the consolation

 As was the case Last Christmas, defending champions Queens A look set to retain their crown as they lead Division 1. Although they are level on points with Ringswell A, Queens have played a game less and they had A Wonderful Christmastime as they thrashed them 8-1 in their table-topping clash, with Sarah Preece/Zac  Phillips and Leoni Bishop/Jamie Roberton leading the way with three wins from them. Queens A then followed up bringing Joy To The World with a 9-0 win at Exeter B which enabled them to Stay Another Day in first place and dampen Ringswell’s hopes of a Fairytale Of New York to give them a first Division 1 mixed title. Exeter B are bottom of the table and Lonely This Christmas with four defeats from four, although they only lost 5-4 in a close match against St Leonards A where they couldn’t Stop The Cavalry. Five of t

 Ringswell A have been running rings around the rest of the first division as three wins out of three have put them on course for their first ever Mixed Division One title. They started with a tense 5-4 win away to Exeter A with the points shared between the pairs of Iain Walsh/Jess Hill, Nigel Osbourne/Marion Ginger and Chloe Tsang/Ben Hartridge. It was followed by a 8-1 thrashing of St Leonards A with Walsh/Hill and Osborne/Erin Whitten winning all three of their matches – Tom Phillips/Louise Gubbin with the consolation point. Ringswell A then did the double of Exeter as they beat their B team 9-0, with Walsh/Hill, Osborne/Whitten and Ginger/Barry Hariss all winning their three matches. Queens B top Division 2A after winning their top of the table clash against Ringswell B 8-1, with unbeaten performances coming from Sarah Preece/Nathan

 There was a triple success for Exeter’s Geoff Littler at this year’s Annual League Tournament. Geoff won the Singles and then teamed up with his clubmates, Sam Lees and Rowan Despard, to win the men’s and mixed titles. Tom Phillips (St. Leonards) was runner-up to Geoff Littler in all 3 level events partnering Tim Wardale in the men’s and Verity Greenaway in the mixed doubles.Sarah Preece (Queens) successfully defended her singles crown as this competition has not been held since Sarah won the event in 2014. The Ladies Doubles was not contested this year due to lack of entries. Sadly, for the first time ever, all the level competitions were run as round robin events due to the low number of entries.   Therefore, the League Committee are considering holding the tournaments on weekday evenings next season to try and attract more entries.