The latest monthly BigShots tournament took place at Newlands on Sunday 21st April. As usual, the tournament was run with timed 10 minute games, where all players are guaranteed 4 matches.
The turnout for this event was an excellent 21 players. The home club provided three of the top four seeds, Calum Young (4th), Fraser McCann (3rd), Fergus Andrew (2nd), with the top seed Jack Smillie coming from Strathgryffe.
The odd number of 21 players meant 2 divisions were run using the MONRAD format after the qualifying round, with the 3rd division being set up as a round robin to maximise the number of matches for each player. All the divisions were extremely competitive with quality matches throughout the day.
Division 3
Being a round robin in which there’s no official final, this meant that every match was as important as the next, with no room for error! There were some high scoring matches throughout the day because of the timed games, which set up for some interesting finishes. In particular, the match between Finlay McDougall against Jack Fenton was a belter! When the whistle sounded it was 17-17, so a very tense sudden death point ensued… anyone that’s played one knows it’s a battle of wits and an absolute lottery – In the end, Jack Fenton emerged victorious. However, Oliver Campbell of Strathgryffe was the victor of this division wining all his matches.
Winner – Oliver Campbell (Strathgryffe)
Runner Up – Jack Fenton (Maryhill SSRC)
Division 2
This was a very competitive division with tight drives and tight matches across the board. All players showed signs of quality and potential for the future and with the inter regionals beckoning, it shows good signs for the future of West Junior Squash. The semi-finals were dominated by Strathgryffe with three of the four places, and the remaining spot was taken by Orla Young of Newlands, who played some outstanding squash, eventually defeating Lewis Reid in the 3rd/ 4th playoff. The final was an all Strathgryffe affair with Christopher Feeney besting Jack Chambers.
Winner – Christopher Feeney (Strathgryffe)
Runner up – Jack Chambers (Strathgryffe)
Division 1
All seeds made it through to the semi-finals, despite 2nd seed Fergus Andrew finding a fit and fast Craig Thomson of Giffnock a tougher customer than he anticipated.
Top seed, Jack Smillie, moved comfortably through to the semis, and followed up with a quality display against 4th seed Calum Young to claim the first final spot. However, the other semi provided the biggest upset of the tournament so far, as Fraser McCann beat Fergus to move into the final.
The final was a great display of junior squash, with both players producing fantastic shots and superb powers of retrieval – However Fraser continued his earlier form from his semi-final result, taking the scalp of the top seed to claim the April BigShots Crown!!
Winner – Fraser McCann (Newlands)
Runner up – Jack Smillie (Strathgryffe)
A huge thank you to Newlands for use of their excellent facilities which allowed the tournament to run smoothly, and to all parents and players for supporting the event.
The next event will be held at Scotstoun Sports Campus on Sunday 26th May. Get your entries in soon!
The new West Junior order of Merit will be out soon!
Full Results can be found here:
Monrad
Round Robin
