31 January, 2018 Sally Copleston
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 (Exeter) defeated Zac Phillips and Ian Kirby (Queens) 21-12, 19-21, 21-18 and Jamie Roberton and Sam Clarke (Queens) beat Martyn Schmidt and John Carter (Sidmouth) 21-10, 21-11. In the final Sam Owens and Mark Trebble beat Jamie Roberton and Sam Clarke 21-16, 21-15, resulting in an eighth men’s title for Mark and a second men’s title for Sam.
In the semi-finals of the Mixed Doubles: Zac Phillips and Sarah Preece (Queens) beat Tom Phillips and Astrid Janssens (St. Leonards) 21-12, 21-12 and Sam & Suzanne Owens (Exeter) beat Anthony Clarke (Queens) and Nikita Smethurst (Exeter) 21-17, 21-8. In the final the 2016 champions Sam & Suzanne Owens defeated Zac Phillips and Sarah Preece 21-18, 21-16. This was Suzanne’s fourth mixed title her first being back in 1991 with Jerry Hollis.
The Ladies Singles and Doubles competitions did not take place due to lack of entries.