Fitzwilliam’s premier men and women’s teams travelled to Prague at the weekend (5 – 9 September) to compete in the European Squash Club Championships.
The ladies entered the competition as #3 seeds, and the team consisting of Aisling Blake, Laura Mylotte, Rosie Barry and Vicky Menzies won their group stage to set up a quarter-final tie against Squashclub Strahov from the Czech Republic. With great performances from all, the team won 3/0 and went through to the semi-finals against a strong Pontefract team including Orla Noom (#58 world ranking) and Vanessa Atkinson (previous world #1 and world champion). Despite Laura coming close to beating Vanessa, Fitzwilliam lost 2-1. The team finished in 3rd place after beating Espoo of Finland in the 3rd/4th playoff on Saturday. Pontefract went on to beat Mullhouse (France) in the women’s final, taking their 5th European title.
The men’s team entered the competition seeded #10 and had a strong team consisting of Derek Ryan, Rory Byrne, Nigel Peyton, Niall Rooney, Dara O’Flynn and Kevin Moore. In the group stage, they had a tough draw against Aberdeen (seeded #2) , Nottingham and Hafrsfjord (Norway). Following the group stage, they were placed into the playoffs for 9 – 16th place, where they beat Liechtenstein comfortably and finished in 12th place despite injuries to Niall and Dara.
Elsewhere in the men’s draw, there were some epic matches with James Wilstropp (world #2, representing Mullhouse) beat Nick Matthews (world #1, representing Worms, Germany) in almost 2 hours in the semi finals. Worms went on to the final against Buldoci Praha (Czech), where Greg Gaultier (world #3) beat Matthews 3-1. Worms won the final 3-1 for their first European title.
Vicky Menzies FLTC
