MELTHAM Phoenix Tennis Club are on the rise.
Despite fears in the close-season that they would be forced to disband, the club, with the help of Phoenix Squash club in Honley, manages to secure the use of tennis courts at Honley High School and resurrected the team which now plays under the banner of Meltham Phoenix.
And it looks likely they will climb to Men’s Division IV, having played 11 matches unbeaten so far this season to go top of Division V.
This success has been achieved with a very small squad of just eight players captained by Graham Stacey.
And the strength in depth of the team is evident with the third pair having won 20 sets so far.
The match against Thornhill B went as expected with Meltham winning the match 11-4.
Both first couple, Chris and Peter Latham, and second couple, Stacey and Martin Jolly, won five sets each while the third couple, having a rare off day, only won one.
Thornhill’s team, however, contained three junior players who all look to have potential for the future.
Meltham now have three remaining fixtures and against their most difficult opponents – Longley, Grove and Thongsbridge.
As ever at this time of the year, clubs with small squads suffer from loss of players due to holiday commitments.
But Meltham are hoping their efforts so far this season should still gain them promotion.
In Ladies Division II, Thongsbridge C played host to Grove B despite the absence of their captain Mo Glynn.
The match turned out to be very competitive with both teams giving their all in 9-9 draw.
Thongsbridge’s first pair, Kay Chawner and Emily Wood, lost to Gill Morris and Anna Hardy, who went on to win all there sets on the night.
Then Thongsbridge’s second pair, Janice Mudd and Fran Draper, who have had a very good season so far, won four sets.
The Thongsbridge third pairing of Rachel Pollard and Emily Ward contributed one set to the match which was played in an excellent spirit.
Apologies to Peter Brogan of Denby Dale, who was incorrectly named under the team picture in last week’s column.
