Written By: Tay Jin Wen Edited By: Valerie Chua & Jolene Wong Photographs By: Eusoffworks
It was finally the day for the deciding battle between Eusoff and Sheares to see who would emerge victorious and proceed to the finals. The atmosphere at the squash courts were extremely tense. It was expected to be a tough fight as both teams were rather evenly matched.
Freshie Weijie started the first game, facing off an IVP player from Sheares. Despite facing such a formidable opponent, Weijie managed to grab the first lead of the game! It was an intense battle between the two and even though Weijie had no IVP experience, they were tied at 6-6 in the first set. Weijie’s fast legs and hands were able to keep up with his opponent’s hard smashes and drives which was making him go all over the court. However, his opponent’s skills and experience were undeniable and Sheares managed to pull through with the win, finishing the first set 11-6 and also taking the second set 11-3. Yet, Weijie’s resilience and strength was extremely commendable and he was not shaken at all In the final set, his opponent was smashing balls like mad but Weijie continued fighting back relentlessly. Even though the set was at a match point with a score difference of 10-2, Weijie refused to give up the last point and unleashed all his powers on the court. His passion and fire stunned his opponent for awhile and Weijie managed to catch up, taking 2 points from Sheares. Unfortunately, his opponent managed to take the last point and Sheares bagged the first win.
Freshie Wei Jie delivering a backhand hit to his opponent.
EH 0 – 1 SH
Next, it was Jerry’s showdown time. The second game started off with a BANG (literally) as when the opponent attempted to receive Jerry’s serve, his racquet string snapped. Jerry’s hard serve totally blasted it’s way through. What a pity it wasn’t counted as a score! Jerry then did some sikkk saves but however, Sheares was in the lead with the score at 8-5, with Jerry tailing closely behind. Eventually, the score went to 10-7 and Sheares was at match point. There was a super intense rally between Jerry and Sheares with Jerry trying his best to receive all his opponents shots but eventually one shot slipped through and Sheares took the first set. In the second set, Jerry picked himself up and was hitting his shots to the far corners, pushing his opponent to his limit. He was like a warrior in a warzone, with his crazy fast reflexes, putting extreme pressure on his opponent and the score was tied at 7-7 at one point!!! All the spectators could barely breathe and with one hard cross court smash, Jerry finally took the first lead of the game at 8-7!! WHAT A BEASTTTT. However, Jerry’s opponent was not easily defeated and soon the score was 10-10, pushing the game to a deuce. In the end, Sheares pulled through with the win and took the second set 10-12. For the last set, Jerry was extremely exhausted from the epic battle and his legs couldn’t keep up with the pace anymore. Sheares then took the last set 11-3.
EH 0 – 2 SH
For the third game, Colin was the next in line and it was a crucial game since this would decide if we had a chance to make it to finals. The first set started off well with an extremely long rally where neither Colin nor his opponent were allowing any mistakes and refused to back down. However, his Sheares opponent was indeed skillful and despite hard-fought efforts from Colin, he lost the first set 11-3. Despite this, Colin quickly got his head back into the game and froze his opponent with hard serves and drives, taking the first 3 points of the second set. It was a crazy set with the ball flying in all directions and both players dashing all over the court such that this reporter could barely see what was going on. Colin and his opponent put up an extremely good fight, scoring one after the other and the score was neck to neck throughout at 5-5, 8-8, 9-9, 10-10 and 11-11. No one could tell when the game would ever end and the fighting spirit of both players was really inspiring. However, lady luck was not on our side and Sheares emerged victorious with a score of 13-11. For the last set, both players were evidently tired out however, the Sheares player was riding on his adrenaline and momentum and took the last set 11-6 despite Colin’s desperate attempts to reach and dive for every ball.
EH 0 – 3 SH
Even though Sheares was currently up 3-0 and it was evident that we were out, our last two players, Kenson and Shaun, were totally unfazed and were determined to give their all on the court. With their entire team cheering behind them, Kenson picked up his racquet with laser shooting from his eyes, all ready to fight back and bag a win for Eusoff. Kenson literally stormed through the match, striking every ball precisely at lightning speed. Everytime his racquet came in contact with the ball, a thunderous sound could be heard echoing across all the courts. He was indeed a formidable force not to be reckoned with. Kenson completely outplayed his opponent and tricked him into going the wrong direction to receive his balls with perfectly planned balls whipped together with the perfect ball spin. Kenson was like a wizard, holding his racquet like a wand and magically controlling his opponent’s every movement which completely drained his opponent’s strength after the first set. WHAT A LEGEND. Professor Kenson Dumbledore then swept the remaining two sets with a flick of his racquet and took the first win for Eusoff with score lines 11-5, 11-4 and 11-4.
Professor Kenson Dumbledore posing for a shot before delivering the ball back.
EH 1 – 3 SH
For the last game, we have Captain Shaun in action!! Captain Shaun faced his equal for this game and the deciding factor for this match was about endurance and some luck. Right off the bat, Shaun and his opponent were going at each other hard, scoring point after point one after another, neither side willing to give in. However, towards the end, Sheares managed to win the first set 11-6 as many of the balls were nearly saved by Shaun but somehow landed out of his reach. For the second and third set, Shaun and his opponent were whacking all sorts of shots towards each other, neither side planned on being merciful. They went all out with their hard smashes and cross-court drives and there was even one point where they were rallying for a whole minute, both defending their ground well. It was an extremely touching and inspiring scene as Eusoffians cheered and Shaun was extremely focused, returning all the balls to his opponent without ever thinking of giving up. Sadly, momentum was on Sheares side and despite Shaun’s insane reflexes, the Sheares player was able to tire him out and took the other 2 sets 11-4 and 11-6. With this game, the match was concluded 4-1 to Sheares.
Captain Shaun giving his opponent a taste of his forehand hit.
Final Score: EH 1 – 4 SH
Nonetheless, our guys unwavering spirits and passion for the game was amazing. Though it was an unexpected and a disappointing loss for them, they were united together, stood strong together and was always gave their all on the court together. It has been a good run for the Squash guys this year but don’t worry, they will definitely come back even stronger the next season!!
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