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SABRINA SCHOOLS COACH JACKO
Sabrina Sobhy bt Brian
“JACKO” Jackson 10-12, 13-11, 11-6, 11-2
In tonight’s opening match,
Sabrina was intent on putting another win back on the board for
the Sobhy family. As she and Jacko began warming up, you could
see that they were both getting focused on the task at hand.
The first game was a close affair. Jacko, who also plays tennis,
was utilising his topspin drops to try and take Sabrina out of
her comfort zone. After taking a 6-4 lead, Jacko started to
falter a bit and allowed Sabrina more opportunities in the
middle of the court where she could place the balls into the
front corners and take him out of position. Sabrina found
herself up 10-7 with 3 game balls. Suddenly Jacko got a surge of
energy and began chasing down balls and responding with his own
shots landing deep in the back court. With a display of steady
length and some tennis-style volleys, Jacko took the next 5
points to save 3 game balls and win the first game 12-10.
 The
second game was almost a mirror image of the first with Jacko
coming back from down 4-1 and 6-3 to lead 9-7. He seemed on his
way to going up 2-0 in the match, when Sabrina began to access
the full extent of her arsenal. Remembering that she was playing
a player more than 3 times her age, she began to utilise all 4
corners. She saved a game ball at 10-9 down, and with a few well
placed drops, she took the second game 13-11.
The following two games were more one-sided and from 6-6 in the
3rd, Jacko could only earn 2 more points for the rest of the
match. Sabrina won the match 3-1, putting another win back on
the board for the Sobhys and regaining her confidence.
AMANDA TAKES DOWN JOSH
Amanda Sobhy bt Josh Pinard
11-8, 14-12, 11-7
In what was expected to be a
highly entertaining match, the two players provided a
scintillating affair of pace and finesse throughout the contest.
With Amanda having played a tough 5-gamer the night before, her
energy-level may have evened things up for the unfit Josh.
 Both
players came out strong in the first game and Josh seemed to be
taking control with some high-paced cross-courts. He forced her
to change directions and avoided giving her the simple shots.
However, after leading 7-5, his fatigue began to kick in and
Amanda pounced on this with her own attacking style. Keeping the
rallies long, she would wait for the ideal moment to put on the
finishing touch, either with a perfect length or a drop in the
nick. Amanda would take the first game 11-8.
The second game was even tighter as Josh was determined not to
go down easy. This time it was Amanda who started strong
continuing where she had left off from the first game. Taking a
quick 6-2 lead, she was dictating all the rallies. And even when
Josh would earn a point, it was a hard-earned point. Soon Amanda
was up 10-7 and looked to be cruising to a 2-0 lead, when Josh
dug deep and hung in the next few rallies. With a couple errors
from Amanda and a lucky bounce for Josh, he found himself back
in the game at 10-10. After a few more hand outs, Josh could
only save 2 more game balls before going down 14-12.
In the third game, Josh was running on fumes and after taking a
6-4 lead, his engine eventually shut down and Amanda would stamp
her authority on the match, cruising to an 11-7 win in the
third.
Sobhys take a 2-0 lead for the night.
OMAR TOPPLES SHAWN
Omar Sobhy bt Shawn Simpson
11-9, 11-7, 11-9
In the final match of the night,
Omar would face Bajan challenger, Shawn Simpson. This would no
doubt be a fast-paced match between the 2 “big men” of the
night.
From the onset, Shawn seemed to take charge of the game using
his reach to his advantage. He rushed to a 4-1 lead and
maintained the advantage throughout most of the game despite
some heavy rallies. Omar was challenging his taller opponent
well though as he earned his points with some tight drives and
high-paced crosses. At 5-7 down, Omar began to get more
comfortable with Shawn’s style and was even matching his pace.
Volley drops, cross-courts, reverse-angles, cross-court drops.
There was a wide range of choices being made and Omar was
recovering everything and adding pressure to the Bajan champ.
Shawn led 9-8 and Omar was yet to lead for the game, but forcing
a couple errors out of Simpson and adding a fast cross-court to
back court gave Omar the next three points for the game.
The next two games were similar, whereby each player would win
points in spurts. Shawn began the second game with a 4-1 lead
again and 6-4. Then once again Omar stepped up the intensity. He
pushed Shawn around the court and forced his opponent to make
errors. Shawn was trying to use his drops to make Omar work, but
his percentage was not working to his advantage. Omar would take
the next 4 points to lead 8-6 and eventually take the game 11-7.
In the third it was Omar who grabbed the early lead 4-0. With
the same style of exchanges in the last game, it was all down to
who was forcing the errors and who was exerting the pressure.
Shawn began to play more steady and attacked at the right time
to bring the score level at 7-7. The crowd was hoping to see
this match go to 5 and were urging on their fellow Caribbean
player. However Omar would not be having that. And a few points
later, he played a crisp drive on the left wall that Shawn just
couldn’t reach and sealed the match 11-9 in the 3rd.
The Sobhys regain the lead with a 3-0 sweep on Thursday
night and now lead 6-3 overall.
With one more
night of exhibitions to go, the Caribbean team will be pulling
out all stops.
Stay tuned for Fantastic Friday: I will be taking on
Sabrina Sobhy, Colin Ramasra will challenge the big brother
Omar, and Shawn will try his luck against the Amazing Amanda.
Between these matches we will have a special veterans match
between National Over 50 champ, John Holley and Khaled “Drill
Sergeant” Sobhy. |
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The
juniors got the opportunity to play some points with Amanda,
Sabrina, and Omar, as well as do some running drills. If they
hit a cone they scored a point, and everyone would run a sprint.
If they beat one of the Sobhys, everyone would run a "respect"
sprint.
