WEEK 10

Women's First Team (Div 1), captain: Suzie Provan

Braid 1sts finished in style this week with a 12-0 win over Waverley, losing just 11 games throughout the night. Having won the league, we also decided to mix up the pairings, just for fun, giving us all the chance to play with someone new and take the pressure off focusing on just the result. We have finished top of the table, defending our first title win of 2022, so much to be proud of for the first team this year :-) Huge thanks to all who contributed to our brilliant season in the league....Mhairi, Heather, Emily, Sophia, Eva, Lisa and Juliet. 

Women's Second Team (Div 2), captain: Janine Frew

Braid 2 played their final match away to Mortonhall. Once again it was a beautiful evening for tennis. After a hard fought match the team came away with a draw which confirmed our position at the top of division 2. Well done to all the players as it was very much a team effort. 

Women's Third Team (Div 3A), captain: Amy Allen

The season has flown by and here we are in the last week of the season, away to Drummond. No team so far has finished their match their in one sitting, I was keen we could, and with the help of the Drummond captain we came up with a plan that involved an earlier start and no-ad deuce in all matches….

With a strengthened Braid 2s team this week we welcomed Maki to make an appearance for us to hopefully secure our last win of this season. Two early couples, Amy and Maki at 1st couple and Maeve and Eileen as 2nd couple headed out to Drummond. Maeve and Eileen saw off their opponents, Drummond’s 3rd couple, quickly with a convincing win. Maki and Amy took longer and held out for a 3rd set MTB which unfortunately didn’t go their way against the Drummond 1st pair. Cat and Kim then had their opportunity to take to the court against Drummond 3rd pair and Maeve and Eileen headed on against the 2nd pair. Cat and Kim won quickly and were able to go back on to face the 1st pair. Maeve and Kim had a battle on their hands with a pair on their home turf who liked nothing more than to rally the ball and lengthen rallies! However they kept their cool and came out with a 2 set victory taking us into the last match just needing to win 1 set to secure the win. Maki and Amy took the lessons from Maeve and Eileen’s match and capitalised on a pair that were tired from their previous battle. A victory in time for our 10pm cut off meant we came away with a 9-4 victory and a completed match in one setting!

We finished the season with a fantastic performance, thank you to all who have played for the 3s this season, it’s been a strong season and very enjoyable matches to play and watch.  We finished 2nd in the table behind Lomond Park who have not lost a match all season.

Women's Fourth Team (Div 5B), captain Mhairi Reid

We went in to our last match of the season in fifth place. Mortonhall 3 had won against Grange Dyvours 2 earlier in the week, which was the result we needed to have a chance of staying up in division 5. If we won against Dean, we’d tie with Grange on points but finish ahead of them once our set count was taken into consideration. We had everything to play for!

Diana and Viv played first couple, Hazel and Mhairi second couple and Anne and Jacqui at third. After a clean sweep in the first round, we were in a strong position. We went into the second round with the wind behind us and came through with a 12-0 win. What a finish to the season! A convincing victory. 

Good to welcome Anne back after being out injured for most of the season and thank you to all the supporters who came down to cheer us on.

DUNLOP EAST OF SCOTLAND MEN’S LEAGUE 2023 MATCH REPORT

(Week 10)

Men’s First Team (Division 2)

The men’s 1st team closed out their season with another solid 9-4 win over Barnton Park 2s. The team of Alex Lesiuk, Callum Caves, Tom Johnston, Louis Duthie Gray, Jimmy Wood, and Gary Melville put on a solid performance and despite retiring from one of the matches with injury, comfortably took the win. A very successful season, securing top spot in Division 2 and promotion back to division 1 for next year.

Men’s Second Team (Division 3)

The men’s 2nd team completed the season in Aberdour. Felix Freund made a very welcome return to the team. Aberdour were looking to win the league and turned out a strong squad. In round one, David and Ewan were in a very competitive match against the first couple when David picked up a calf injury and the rubber had to be conceded. In the end, the only points of the evening were picked up by Felix and Adrian in a competitive rubber. The second team go down to division 4 but should bounce back up next season. 

Men’s Third Team (Division 6A)

Having lost only twice all season (to an outstanding Murrayfield 1s team) and with Barnton Park only a point behind going into the final game (and almost certainly going to win their final tie against bottom club Merchiston), the men’s 3rd team knew only a home victory against a plucky Musselburgh side would guarantee second place, and thus promotion to division 5 next season. A nervy start by Braid resulted in a narrow 4-3 lead at the halfway point; however, the pairings of Eugene/ John, Roger/ Pete Traynor and Gilberto/ Ross pulled away sufficiently in the second round of rubbers to secure an 8-5 win to cap off a superb season.

Men’s Fourth Team (Division 9A)

The final 4th team match of the season away at Musselburgh 3rds had much riding on it, with the hosts needing a win to be promoted and Braid requiring a victory to seal 1st place. The first round of rubbers all went to championship tie break deciders. Nick Wood/Juan Carlos Varona and Michael Smyth/James Paulin won theirs while Musselburgh won one, leaving the score 5-4 to Braid at the halfway point. In the second round of matches, a quick comprehensive victory by Nick & Juan Carlos was matched by Musselburgh’s first pairing. With the score at 7-6 to Braid, the crucial final rubber saw Callum Thomson/Gary Kedney recover from 2-5 down in the first set, to win 11 of the next 13 games making the final score 9-6. An outstanding team performance to end an excellent season.

Thanks to all the players who turned out for the teams and more importantly to the team captains!