Cippenham made an unbeaten start to the new Women’s British League campaign at Wolverhampton over the weekend. Last year’s runaway champions of Division 2 duly took their place in Division 1 and currently sit in the middle of three teams all tied at the top of the table with seven points, separated only by sets ratio.

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The unbeaten record included two victories, both by 5-1, against the bottom two teams in the division while the other three matches all resulted in 3-3 draws. Rachael Iles and Mia Lakhani both won eight of their ten individual matches, and shared four Player of the Match awards between them, while Anna Piercey provided valuable support with three wins.

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The weekend started off with a 5-1 win over Byng Hall although the Kent-based side did provide sterner opposition than the scoreline might suggest. Only one set was won 3-0, that between Rachael and Jurate Brazaityte while Mia was extended to a fifth and deciding game by both Letitia McMullan and Annabelle Baker. Anna beat Baker over four games.

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The Saturday afternoon match provided opposition from across the Irish Sea in the form of Ormeau. The 3-3 result ultimately hinged upon the results against the Irish team’s number one player Sabina Devereux. While Mia won her contest 11-4 in the fifth game, Rachael was not so fortunate and was defeated 11-9 in the fifth after having won the first two games.

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Saturday concluded with another drawn match, this time against Worthing for whom Holly Holder won both her matches. Rachael also won both of hers against Sally Hughes and Darcie Proud while Mia was also successful against Hughes.

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It was deja-vu on Sunday morning as a 3-3 draw was the result for the third consecutive match. Widnes-based Halton provided the opposition. The scorers for Cippenham were Rachael, with two, and Mia with one

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It took three fifth-game wins for Cippenham to overcome Ellenborough 5-1 in the final match. The Enfield-based team went ahead when Rachael fell to Ewa Foskett but after that it was all Cippenham. Mia beat Gabriela Tankel at deuce in the fifth and Maisha Patel three-straight while Anna survived two close matches to defeat both Patel and Foskett. In between those, Rachael made slightly easier work of Tankel.