Women’s badminton team draw with Roehampton

Player switches, late arrivals and a strong opposition result in badminton draw for Kingston.

Lesley-Anne Morley

Outstanding singles performances from Kingston’s Sam Bennet and Pieta Chan were not enough to secure the team victory over Roehampton’s badminton firsts at the Roehampton Sport and Fitness Centre on Wednesday.

Bennet and Chan were on fire with precision serves and powerful returns in their individual games against Roehampton singles Casey Higgans and Lucy Chisnall.

Roehampton’s Alex Hunter said: “We had a friendly against them in September which we lost so we really wanted to get this one.  We’ve done a lot of training since then and it seems to have paid off.

The singles games looked tough, but we took the doubles.”

Doubles Troubles

While Kingston’s singles won every game they played, the doubles teams struggled against a sharp and powerful Roehampton attack.

Kingston’s Rebecca Stavely-Taylor, who normally pairs with Lilian Yau, partnered newcomer Lily Simmons.

Stavely-Taylor said: “It was a good combination.  We just need to find our footing a bit better.  We’ve been training together in anticipation for this.

“It wasn’t a bad game, but I think I could have connected more and done a bit more on the court.”

Close call

The match came close to a Kingston forfeit as three of the six players were late for the 1:30pm start in Roehampton because of their lectures running until 1pm at the Penrhyn Road campus.

The team has discussed travel options for future away games with early starts and are hoping the University will put up the money for a taxi.

Stavely-Taylor, who was among those running late, said: “You need a proper warm up. They didn’t rush us into anything, but we could do with a more relaxed atmosphere before playing our games.”

The team’s next match is against University of Portsmouth on 6 February at Tiffin Boys School at 8pm.

Singles Matches:

Chan (KU) v. Higgans (RU)                   21-6, 21-12           Kingston Win

Bennet (KU) v. Chisnall (RU)               21-16, 21-12         Kingston Win

Chan (KU) v. Chisnall (RU)                   21-4, 21-12           Kingston Win

Bennet (KU) v. Higgans (RU)               21-5, 21-12           Kingston Win

Doubles Matches:

Clark/ Yau (KU) v. Seymour/ Alcock (RU)                                         21-17, 17-21, 18-21            Roehampton Win

Stavely-Taylor/ Simmons (KU) v. Seymour/ Alcock (RU)               10-21, 11-21                         Roehampton Win

Clark/ Yau (KU) v. Hunter/ Dannell (RU)                                           21-19, 13-21, 13-21            Roehampton Win

Stavely-Taylor/ Simmons (KU) v. Hunter/ Dannell (RU)                 Walkover                               (out of time)