Tennis Prelims: KE vs SH

Pubz Comm Reporter: Siva Subramaniam

Note: Again, our apologies for the lateness of this match report as well for the same reason mentioned before.

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6^th January 2008, 11am: While the majority of you were getting out of bed on a lazy Sunday morning getting ready to enjoy a day of leisure and relaxation, the KE 7 tennis guys were out on the tennis courts in full force to play their last preliminary round match for this year’s IHG. They were up against Sheares Hall who was armed with an impressive new lineup and ready to take KE7 down.

As per tradition, Raghav played 1^st singles and barely broke a sweat as he demolished his opponent 9-2. Siva was in 2^nd singles up against a senior from SH. They were pretty evenly matched and the match was close until the score became 5-4. At this point, inconsistent shots and a handful of double faults plagued the KE player. SH eventually closed out the match 9-5.

With the score now tied at 1-1, both our doubles started simultaneously. 1^st doubles Abhinav and Sandip were up against a strong pair, consisting of Sheares’ top seed, Bharath. The KE boys struggled with brutal shots from their varsity team opponent. An exciting and fast-paced match ended in Sheares’ favour (9-4) despite a commendable showing from the KE team.

2^nd singles saw Daniel and Arshvin playing an evenly-matched team from SH. They struggled throughout the game and came to 3-8. Before Sheares could clinch the match, the KEVIIans started to mount a comeback. They had an excellent game and broke Sheares’ serve. Sadly, this momentum did not carry forward and the comeback was short-lived. Sheares won the match 9-4.

3^rd singles saw team Win against Laxmi from Sheares hall. Laxmi’s vast experience and IVP quality proved to be too much for Win. The hard-hitting Sheares player easily took the match 9-0.

All in all, KE lost 1-4 and this loss marked the end of the line for our guy’s tennis team. Alas, the defending champions in tennis did not manage to qualify for the semifinals! Nonetheless, the team put up a good fight in both their matches and realized that their is much room for improvement in the year to come. Captain Abhinav is glad that “We learned some valuable lessons from this experience”.

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Go KE! You can do it!

Tennis Prelims: KE vs TH

Pubz Comm Reporter: Siva Subramaniam

Note: All our apologies for the late posting of this match report.  Delay was caused by the fact that our writer had other serious commitments before. Thank you for your understanding and please enjoy reading this interesting report.

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It was the worst possible time of year: New Year’s Day. That’s when the KE 7 tennis guys realized that their IHG season was starting on the 2^nd of January! Nonetheless, vice-captain Win managed to somehow round up his team members and ensure their participation in the first IHG match against Temasek Hall the very next day (though some members were overseas and others hung-over from their countdown parties).

Coming to IHG this year as the defending champions, the tennis guys felt a heavy weight of responsibility to their hall mates. This year KE 7 was drawn into a strong group which consisted of Sheares Hall and Temasek Hall. Furthermore due to the schedule of the tennis matches, 3 or 4 crucial members of the tennis team were still on holiday and could not make it back in time to play. With all these overwhelming odds and expectations from all sides, the match began as scheduled.

First singles saw our IVP veteran Raghav (Rags) against a less-experienced opponent from TH. Rags played his superior brand of tennis and gave his opponent a tough time. Still, the TH player held his own against our star and managed to get a few games off him. Raghav eventually won the match with a score of 9-5.

At the same time, for our second singles, Win took to the court. Win and his opponent were equally matched and each point was won only after a long rally. Win played with great consistency and held serve well. The scoreline remained within one game throughout the match all the way up to 7-7. By this time, Win was feeling the effects of a grueling match and fatigue caught up with him. Despite giving his best effort, he lost a couple of crucial points and went down 7-8. His opponent went on to take the match 9-7.

Arshvin and Siva paired up for the first doubles and were pitted against a fast-serving duo from Temasek. They struggled to fight their opponents’ serves and to keep their own shots over the net. The matched ended uneventfully with the KE pair losing 9-2. In the 2^nd doubles Daniel and team captain Abhinav played against a formidable pair and put up a good fight but lost the match 9-0. 

In the 3^rd singles was Sandip, the hero of the hall from last year’s IHG. Sandip faced a skilled but perhaps less-experienced opponent and had the upper hand on him throughout the match. Both players played clean, consistent shots and most points ended in unforced errors rather than winners. The match became tied at 8-8 and the players played a tiebreak. By this time, Sandip had received the news that the 2^nd singles and both doubles had lost their matches and knew that his match was no longer crucial. This knowledge very clearly affected his gameplay and Sandip seemed to have lost the fighting spark that took him and his team so far last season. He gave in easily and his opponent won the tiebreak and the match ( 9-8 (7-1) ).

All in all, our KE7 guys tennis team lost closely to Temasek hall by a margin of 1-4.

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Historic Day for KE7 SoftBall: KE vs RH ; KE vs EH

Pubz Comm Reporter: Anand Vasudevan

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On January 9, 2008, KE7 softball made history by qualifying to the semifinals for the first time, beating Raffles Hall and Eusoff Hall on the way.

With overnight rain, the field at SRC was not optimal for playing with its muddy ground making it hard to grip the ball. Our first game was against Raffles Hall whom we beat 14-6. We started fielding and got off to an excellent start by preventing Raffles from scoring. Our pitcher, Mei Hui did an excellent job by giving us a good start from which we carried our momentum forward into batting. The Raffles pitcher had a hard time landing the ball correctly and our team was able to capitalize with plenty of free bases (walks). We scored 7 runs in the first innings, (which is the maximum allowed per inning) and we were clearly on the front foot. The bad field conditions along with a more patient batting approach from Raffles Hall saw them scoring 6 runs in their second innings and forcing their way back into the match.

In KE’s second innings we kept our charge scoring another 5 runs taking the score to 11 with some solid hits. In the third and final innings, our pitcher got back her rhythm and with a double play between our third base, Licia and first base, Anand we were able to restrict Raffles to zero runs. When it came to batting, it was a mere formality as it was the last innings and the captain, Woon Yang substituted players for some batting practice. With the confidence of a victory, we went to face Eusoff Hall.

A drizzle between the games only served to worsen the field and the playing conditions. Once again, we began fielding first and started off on the right foot by not allowing Eusoff to score any runs. When it came to our turn to bat we again capitalized on the Eusoff’s pitcher weakness to score 7 runs. There were also some solid hits, from the likes of our rover, Hong Yi to register the lead. In the second innings, we again kept an excellent performance in the field allowing only one run. However, our batting fell a bit as we scored only one run as Eusoff changed their pitcher who was more consistent. In the third and final innings, Eusoff rallied scoring 7 runs and tying the score at 8-8. But we had the advantage of batting last and with a solid hit from Woon Yang, Mei Hui scored a run and we won 9-8.

In the end, these 2 victories were a great boost to the team after all the hard work put in during the first semester. Talking to Woon Yang, he said that he was not surprised with our performance after all the improvement he has witnessed and is confident of facing Kent Ridge Hall for the semifinals. And hopefully we will see another great effort and more success.

—> KE7 Softball Team emerged top in their group by beating both RH and EH!<—

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Way to go KE7 SoftBall team!