Slater, Bentick, Boyea retain titles

The SVG Senior National Squash Championship came to an end last week with no major surprises.

The tournament, which took place from April 26 – 30, was held at the National Squash Centre at Paul’s Ave, and saw players competing in five different categories.{{more}}

In the Women’s B division, Demi Ollivierre captured her first senior title, defeating Tessa Shallow-King, 3-0, Danielle St Clair, 3-1, and then fought to claim the title by overcoming fellow junior rival Gianna Miller-Alexander, 3-2. Shallow-King took 2nd spot, third place went to Miller-Alexander and St Clair took 4th spot.

Women’s A category Sherian Slater retained her title, dropping only one game to Vonnie Roudette. Roudette, by defeating Deidre Myers 3-0, secured the second place with Myers third. Tessa Shallow-King took 4th place, having been unable to secure a win in this division.

Men’s over 50 again had no upsets, with Keith Boyea comfortably defeating John Horne, 3-1, and Leroy Lewis 3-0. The second spot was taken by Leroy Lewis, as he defeated John Horne, 3-0. Men’s over 40 title was retained by James Bentick, as Paul Cyrus defaulted due to injury. Mark Cyrus took 3rd place, with Collin Alexander 4th.

Men’s Open category provided some entertaining matches, as Kevin Bailey defeated Jules Snagg in the quarterfinals, 3-2. The other quarterfinal matches went as expected, Bentick defeating Romario Constance, 3-0, Kevin Hannaway defeating Mark Cyrus, 3-0, and Paul Cyrus overcoming Collin Alexander, 3-1. In the semi-finals Bentick, secure an easy 3-0 win over Bailey, while Hannaway won 3-1 over Paul Cyrus.

The consolation winner was Jules Snagg, as he defeated Mark Cyrus, 3-0, with Collin Alexander taking 7th place after defeating Romario Constance, 3-0.

Third and fourth places went to Kevin Bailey and Paul Cyrus, respectively, after Cyrus defaulted due to injury. The final match of the tournament was very competitive, as junior player Kevin Hannaway tried to dethrone Bentick. Hannaway began by winning the first game 11-9 and then narrowly loosing the second 10-12.With games tied at 1-1 Bentick increased the pressure and secured the other two games easily, 11-4, 11-2, as Hannaway faded.

Trophies were presented to players by former top senior player and squash sponsor Leroy Edwards of SVG General Services Limited.

A team was named to represent SVG at the upcoming Senior OECS Championship to be played in St Lucia, May 20 – 24. It includes Sherian Slater, Vonnie Roudette, Deidre Myers, Gianna Miller- Alexander, Tessa Shallow-King , James Bentick, Paul Cyrus, Kevin Hannaway, Kevin Bailey, Jules Snagg, Mark Cyrus, Keith Boyea, Leroy Lewis and John Horne. The SVG Squash Association will be host to the Senior Caribbean Premier Squash Championship in August and an OECS squad will be selected at the OECS tournament.