YHL enjoyed an unbeaten weekend 2 to seal the Women’s British League, Premier Division title and the Butterfly Bowl.
A draw in their penultimate match against closest rivals Burton Uxbridge ensured they could not be caught at the top, with Yolanda King’s double and Rachel Trevorrow’s win over Sophie Neil cancelling out victories for Burton by Mollie Patterson (2) and Charlotte Bardsley.
King won nine out of 10 for the champions, only coming unstuck against Karen Smith of Knighton Park in the first fixture. Victoria Smith was the other member of the winning line-up, herself contributing seven wins over the weekend.
Burton’s Patterson was also in top form throughout, winning all eight of her matches as her side finished three points behind YHL and three ahead of third-placed XLNT Draycott. Halton were fourth, with the top four sides sharing prizemoney totalling £3,000.
It was a good weekend for XLNT Draycott as their second team ended as Division One champions, with nine wins out of 10. A combination of Nicole Bird, Gauri Duhan, Amy Humphreys and Diana Rusinova only missed a perfect record when runners-up Formby, inspired by Emily Bolton, beat them 4-2 in the final tie.
Division Two was the closest, with only three points separating the top five teams and only St Andrew’s cut adrift. In the event, York Gardens Angels shaded it with 13 points, one more than Halton II and Wigan.
Division Three had an interesting outcome as Fusion III were undefeated but only finished second – the result of drawing six of their 10 matches. One of their victories was over Burton Uxbridge II, who won the title thanks to seven wins and two draws, which gave them 16 points to Fusion’s 14.
Also unbeaten were MK Vixens, but they did win their league, taking the Division Four crown with nine wins and a draw.
In Division Five, another unbeaten team finished second as XLNT Draycott IV (W5, D5) were edged out by a point by Burton Uxbridge III (W7, D2, L1), though Draycott finished in style with a 5-1 victory over the champions.
Click here to see all the final league tables.
In the player averages, King topped the Premier Division standings with 18/20 for a 90% record, just ahead of Bardsley on 88.89%.
In Division One, Duhan sported a 100% record thanks to 15 victories, while Bolton was on 95% with 19 from 20.
There was also a 95% record for Zahna Hall (YHL) in Division Two, while Amy Blagbrough (Fusion III) topped Division Three with 17/18 for 94.44%, an identical record to Alice Hazell of MK Vixens in Division Four. Top gun in Division Five was Tulay Dundar of XLNT Draycott IV, who had 17 wins from 20 – though Gemma Kerr of Burton Uxbridge III boasted a 100% record from 12 matches.
Player of Weekend was Sam Meredith of Cardiff City, while Fusion 1 were Team of the Weekend.
The Solihull Cup, awarded to someone who has enhanced the WBL, and voted for by the teams, was won by Emma Rose of Thorntons.
During the presentations, Table Tennis England Deputy Chairman Susie Hughes awarded Halton’s Karen Tonge MBE with the club’s Clubmark certificate – the first to complete the award since changes to the scheme made in November 2016. The club worked with Andrea Holt to complete the award in a little over 12 weeks.