Recap

Prairie Pronghorns Nip Southwestern Ontario Brewers in Hard-Fought Five-Game Battle

Pronghorns Women Get Match Off to Hot Start in Win over Brewers

Pam Clarke may be one of the elder statespersons in the CNPL at 51 and she wears a knee brace, but she showed in this match she is a force to be reckoned with. Drafted 25^th overall, Clarke made several deft shots as she and Pronghorns partner Kim Brent downed the Brewers Christina Chin and Susan Pound 15-11.

The two women’s doubles team went back and forth for the first half, with hard-hitting Brewer Pound getting the Brewers up 2-1 early with a great forehand smash. Clarke then put her first stamp on the game, capably setting up the Brewers to return one into the net to tie it up. Pound made another of her signature forehand bombs for a point to knot things up at 4-4 and after a few short rallies the Pronghorns went into side change ahead 8-7.

Clarke got things rolling in the second half, sending a beauty between Chin and Pound for a two-point advantage, followed by some great dinking and offensive shifts by her and Brent. Intermixed in there were two Clarke forehands that the Brewers couldn’t return to move the score to 12-8 Pronghorns, forcing a Brewers timeout.

The Brewers scored a quick point on a long Pronghorns return, however, Clarke and Brent were too much to handle as they transitioned from offense to defense and back, seamlessly. The Pronghorns won the match when the Brewers Chin sent one long.

Brewers Stifle Late Rally to Beat Pronghorns in Men’s Doubles

This pivotal tilt had some interesting momentum swings, for sure. In the end, though, the Brewers men’s pair of Mark Cleminson and Jeff Elwood held off a determined comeback by the Pronghorns Matty Stodola and Ravi Prakash to win 15-10 and tie the match.

It was the Pronghorns who jumped out to an early lead, featuring a Prakash backhand that neither Cleminson or Elwood could get a paddle on, making the score 3-1 and a long shot by the Brewers after putting it to 4-1. But, Cleminson and Elwood chipped away at the Brewers’ armor, combining great offense, and dinking to go up 6-4 and force a Pronghorns timeout. After the break, the Pronghorns were refreshed enough to play furious offense and trim the lead, but Cleminson got the upper hand for the Brewers, firing two overhand heaters to put his team ahead 8-5 at side change.

After side change, the Brewers cranked up the offensive heat on the Pronghorns, as Elwood and Cleminson asserted their dominance with effective set-ups, dinking and offense to take a commanding 14-6 lead. Of note, Ravi Prakash nearly made a huge “ATP” shot down the line for a Pronghorns’ point, but it was just a smidge wide.

Not ready to give up yet, the Pronghorns went on the offensive at the freeze, forcing Elwood and Cleminson to take a timeout at 14-7 and then hit a trio of short returns into the net to make things very interesting at 14-10. But the Brewers played outstanding D on Pronghorns serve and then won it on serve when Prakash returned it side out.

Brewers Suppress Another Late Pronghorns Rally in Mixed Doubles Victory

Another game, another nail-biter between the Brewers and Pronghorns. While it was a little different that the Men’s doubles match beforehand, the Brewers pair of Mark Cleminson and Christina Chin had to use every weapon in their arsenal to eventually defeat Pronghorns Matty Stodola and Kim Brent, by a count of 15-12.

Cleminson was on fire right away, slamming three great shots to put the Brewers ahead 4-1 and force a Pronghorns timeout. Initially, the rest did the Pronghorns good, as Stodola pasted an overhand to trim the lead to 4-2. Chin, though, made that point irrelevant, when she hit Brent with an “Ernie” to get the cushion back to three and then two points later hit a beautiful crossing shot to put the Brewers up 7-3. An offensive burst by the Brewers sent the teams into side change with the score 8-3.

As in the game before, the Pronghorns came to life after side change, especially Brent, who smacked two great winners and rallied well with Stodola to get the Pronghorns to within three at 11-8. The Brewers Cleminson then complemented his partner, Chin, by contributing to forehand blasts to get the score to a 14-9 freeze in the Brewers’ favor.

Try as they might, however, the Brewers had much trouble closing out a determined Pronghorns counter-offensive. Brent was on fire and she and Stodola forced a few Brewers shots to go side out or long, trimming the lead to 14-12 and putting doubt in the Brewers’ minds. The freeze held for two more plays, until Chin hit another outstanding lob, followed by a Cleminson forehand that finally won it.

Pronghorns Force Tiebreaker in Tight Mixed Doubles Triumph

The Pronghorns flipped the switch on the Brewers in this entertaining tilt, getting out to an early lead and hanging on in the end for a 15-14 win and forcing a match tiebreaker. Ravi Prakash and Pam Clarke went shot-for-shot with the Brewers Susan Pound and Jeff Elwood, with a little drama along the way. After Prakash gave the Pronghorns a 3-1 lead with a forehand smash, he then plunked Elwood with an overhand “Ernie” that he would apologize for.

Two plays later, Elwood added to the drama, kicking the Dura ball after he whiffed on a return. That seemed to ignite the Brewers, who wanted to close this match out, with Pound setting up the Pronghorns for a net return and yet again on next point to force a Pronghorns time out. It seemed to do them good, as they scored three of the next four to go into side change ahead 8-6.

The Brewers quickly forged ahead after, going up 9-8 after a series of unforced Pronghorns errors. However, Pound hit the Selkirk net twice in a row to allow the Pronghorns to go ahead by one. The Pronghorns gave it right back, allowing the Brewers to forge a 12-10 lead, only to see the two teams knotted at 12-12 after a couple Brewers’ errors.

And so it went, back and forth, until the two teams found themselves at a 14-14 freeze. With everything on the line, the Pronghorns Clarke showed some of the verve she showed in the women’s game, firing a forehand winner to send this great match to a singles tiebreaker.

Brewers Finish Off Match Victory with Electric Win in Tiebreaker

Having allowed the Pronghorns to force a tiebreaker, the Brewers needed all they had to win this game and the match. And they were sharp from the get-go, with Jeff Elwood staking them to a 3-0 lead, smacking a great forehand for the second point and forcing the Pronghorns Matty Stodola to go side out.

Mark Cleminson grabbed two of three points from the Pronghorns Ravi Prakash, courtesy of two long Prakash shots on return. Christina Chin kept up the Brewers’ dominance, winning two of three from Pronghorns’ Kim Brent, including a massive overhand shot to have the Brewers go into the next mini-game up 7-2. The Pronghorns Pam Clarke stopped the bleeding briefly, scoring two straight points against Susan Pound, but Pound restored the lead to 8-4 with an amazing crossing shot.

Elwood and Stodola went head-to-head again and the latter gained a measure of revenge from their first mini game, finishing off two great plays to put the score at 9-6 Brewers. Cleminson would close out the Pronghorns, scoring on a backhand to go up 10-6 on Prakash and then sending a wicked cross to win the match.