Pointless weekend for women's team

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The Cippenham team put on a dismal display during the final weekend of matches in the Women’s British League in Wolverhampton last weekend. Fortunately, the four points gained during the first weekend in October were enough to avoid dropping into bottom spot in Division 5A.

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The weekend started unluckily for Cippenham and the 5-1 defeat against third placed Ornesby could have been so much better. In fact, three of the five sets that were lost were only in the fifth and deciding game and two of these were by the narrowest of margins. The scene was set right at the start when Shristi Ghosh went 2-1 up on Rana Rassem but then lost the fourth 16-14 and the fifth 11-9. Denise Weller lost to Charlotte Weatherby but Julie Dean gave Cippenham hope with a 3-2 victory over Eve Witterick. The score then became 3-1 to the side from Middlesbrough with Cippenham needing to win both remaining sets to gain a point. However, after recovering from 2-0 down, Shristi succumbed 12-10 in the fifth against Witterick and this was followed by another 3-2 defeat for Julie against Weatherby.

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From there it started to go downhill fast. Only Shristi Ghosh and Sue Hayes put up much resistance as Cippenham were overwhelmed by Cardiff City 2 6-0 and then this result was replicated against the Irish divisional leaders Dun Laoire to end Saturday’s play on a low note.

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If Sunday had been expected to bring better results, the hope was a forlorn one. Two wins for Julie Dean were all Cippenham had to show in a 4-2 defeat to Halton 4, a result that resigned Cippenham to finishing behind their opponents from Widnes. Julie, who personally had a good weekend with four wins out of eight, was again the only Cippenham scorer in the final match, a 5-1 defeat to bottom placed Fastbats, providing their opponents with their first and only points of the season.