Recap

Brewers Prevail in Close Match with Rush

Rush Women Stifle Brewers Rally in Tight Game

Judging by the first half of this closer-than-you-think game, the Rocky Mount Rush duo of Casey Rodgers and Alex Walker seemed to have had it sewn up, leading 8-3 at side change over the Southwestern Ontario Brewers.

But, when one half of the opposition pair is hard-hitting Susan Pound – along with Christina Chin – all bets are off.

Rodgers and Walker played excellent defense and exerted great pressure on Pound and Chin from the get-go. However, after the break, Pound made her considerable paddle presence felt, smoking two returns for points to make the score 9-7.

The Brewers did make it interesting, getting the score as close as 10-9 Rush, but then Walker took a page out of the Pound book and drilled two winners, with the capable set-up abilities of Rodgers to take a 13-9 lead.

The Brewers didn’t lay down, though, dinking and playing cagey defense to score two points at freeze (14-12 Rush). The Rush put it away when a decent rally ended on a side-out by Pound.

Brewers Easily Handle Rush in Men’s Game to Tie Match

Finding themselves down 1-0 in the match, the Brewers turned to the men’s pair of Mark Cleminson and Jeff Elwood to get them square with the Rush. They delivered, grabbing an early lead and never letting it go to win, convincingly, 15-9.

The closest that the Rush’s Brett Forsythe and Sunny Buttar got was when Forsythe smacked a return that hit Elwood to tie the score 2-2. Forsythe would score another winner to get within one at 5-4 Brewers, but Cleminson and Elwood made few mistakes and complemented each other very well to grab an 8-5 lead at side change.

Buttar drove a great forehand to score a point to open the second half and two points later the Rush rallied well to make the score 9-7 Brewers. Great defense by the Brewers, combined with some unfortunate returns into the Selkirk net by the Rush didn’t help, as the Brewers built a 14-9 lead. The decisive point came on good defense by the Brewers and a side-out by the Rush.

Brewers School Rush in First Mixed Doubles Contest

As games have gone in this event, this was one of the most lopsided. The Southwestern Ontario Brewers Mixed Doubles team of Mark Cleminson and Christina Chin set the pace and the Rocky Mountain Rush’s Brett Forsythe and Alex Walker just couldn’t keep up.

The only lead the Rush had in this game was 1-0 and after that it was all Brewers. Cleminson put his mark on the proceedings right away, blasting a forehand to tie it and later adding an overhand bomb to put the Brewers up 5-1. Chin, to her credit, was just as adept with the Dura ball, setting up the Rush’s Walker to hit one outside. Just before side change, Chin also beautifully set up Cleminson for a monster overhand to go into the break 8-2.

The Rush did show a little life after a rest, with Forsythe and Walker playing a little less tentatively. But Cleminson, again, proved too much to handle, with both Rush players returning balls into the net for key points. Cleminson and Chin never allowed them to get any momentum and won it when the Rush were long on a return.

Rush Stage Huge Comeback Against Brewers in Mixed Doubles to Knot Match

After a couple of runaway games in the Brewers favor that put the Rush down 2-1, this heated tilt was a great way for the Rush to tie up the match. The Rush’s Sunny Buttar and Casey Rodgers had to come all the way back at freeze, down 14-11, to come out on top.

The Rush built a bit of a comfortable lead early, with Rodgers and Buttar both figuring in great dinking rallies to put their team ahead 4-1 on the Brewers’ Susan Pound and Jeff Elwood. True to form, however, Pound got the game to 4-4 with a drive that hit Rodgers square. As it should have been, the teams went into side change with the Brewers leading 8-7.

The teams see-sawed the lead after the break, but then the Brewers pulled away to build a 13-10 advantage, despite a tremendous rally display put on by Rodgers. The Brewers then got to freeze at 14-11 and looked to have the match well in hand. The Rush did not throw in the towel and after both Pound and Elwood hit the net on returns to tie it up 14-14, the Rush won it the weird way, with Elwood getting called for a foot violation.

Brewers Crush Rush in Singles Tiebreaker

After getting called for a foot violation in mixed doubles that handed the Rush a match-tying victory, Jeff Elwood made up for it – and then some.

He was lights out in the Brewers 11-5 match-clinching win, grabbing five of a possible six points from the very capable Brett Forsythe of the Brewers. Elwood put the petal to the metal in the first three-point stanza, winning all three with tremendous forehand slams that eluded Forsythe.

Mark Cleminson, too, stole all the points in the second stanza, ripping a sizzling forehand that the Rush’s Sunny Buttar couldn’t return to put the Brewers up 6-0. Christina Chin then handled the Rush’s Alex Walker, rocketing an overhand winner to keep the Brewers ahead 8-1. Only Susan Pound failed to win her three-point mini-game, going down 3-0 to a fired-up Casey Rodgers to trim the lead to 8-4.

No matter, as Elwood owned Forsythe again, despite one lone blemish that allowed the Rush to extend the game at 10-5. Cleminson then finished it off, hitting a shot that Buttar fired into the net.