Butler secure last 16 place with win over Trevs

It doesn’t come to mind often, but badminton can be a thrilling sport, especially if you were at the match where Josephine Butler College went head to head with Trevelyan College. At this stage of the game, with quarter-finals around the corner and pressure running high, it was always going to be tense as both teams looked to do their college proud and avoid being knocked out at this relatively late stage of the mixed doubles badminton college competition. Mixed doubles is a different skill to ‘normal’ doubles, so the matches can pose difficulty for the players.

Needless to say, Josephine Butler should be very happy with their badminton players as they dominated Trevs.

They got off to a good start, managing without too much difficulty to fend off the valiant efforts of the Trevs B team, Rachel Ford and Ollie Bartlett who made a good team but just could not get a break; all three Butler teams winning 21-10, 21-8, and 21-14 respectively in their matches.

In the fourth game, Trevs C proved to be a challenge to Butler’s winning streak but again, Butler proved that they had the upper hand.

Chris Wilkes and Emma Talbert kept calm under the attack from Trevs who did their best to try and turn the game around with some aggressive tactics but to no avail as Wilkes and Talbert managed to sneak another win past Trevelyan for Butler, winning 21-18.

Unfortunately for Trevelyan, Butler only continued to carry on the winning streak. It seemed no matter what they did, Butler were two steps ahead of them, perhaps helped by a mixture of having the home-turf advantage and, on the odd occasion, luck.

The fifth game in which Butler B, consisting of Aimee Butterfield and Bertie Miles against Trevs A, was frantic and it appeared that the two teams were equally matched as the rally continued until Trevelyan College’s Sarah Gill made an unlucky mistake and served too low, turning the tide for Butler’s favour, winning 21-15.

15 must be Trevs’ unlucky number though as they lost to Butler again by the same amount when the C teams took each other on. The battle of the A teams though was a definite highlight of the afternoon. Considering the strength of Trevelyan College in badminton over the last few years, Josephine Butler College definitely proved that there was a new kid in town as they slaughtered the Trevs A team 21-4 in the seventh game.

Wilkes and Talbert proved to be an unstoppable force, quickly and confidently overwhelming the attempts of Gill and Perry to try and claw back some points for Trevs. To be fair to Trevs A, Butler A had luck on their side but it is undeniable that they also had skill; a deadly combination when Trevs made some clumsy mistakes. Arguably, they were out of their depths – the score speaks for itself.

New life was breathed back into Trevs though after the resounding defeat of their A team, as their C team threw all they had into their last match admirably. It was a real shame that Trevs lost 21-19, as they probably played better than Butler B in their last game despite Butterfield’s ability to be everywhere at once, but again, Trevs made some mistakes that they couldn’t afford.

The final match though between Butler C and Trevs A was epic as each team fought tooth and nail in order to clinch victory. Everybody was on the edge of their seats as upon reaching 21 in a tie, neither team could muster the energy to score the extra 2 points necessary in order to win. It was like watching the Battle of the Titans as neither team seemed to lose focus.

In the end though, Trevelyan finally managed to prevail and win their only match due to an unfortunate mistake by Butler’s captain Hannah Willsher, spoiling what would have been a perfect record otherwise.

Despite this, Willsher should comfort herself, knowing that Butler are in an excellent position to win this year’s college badminton competition.