TOP FOUR TEAMS CRUISE TO THE FINALS

Summer League round 7 ~~

It really wasn’t much of a contest. The top four teams separated themselves from the bottom four teams back in round three and never looked back. They increased the distance between them every week up until the final round where they were so far ahead that they didn’t need to play it – and in fact two of the teams chose to take the week off.

“Nightmare on Madison Street” and “Boast-Busters” were scheduled to play each other, and only one match was played. A couple of bonus points were picked up and one forfeit awarded, but hardly a single squash ball was hit. Not the way to end the season, and certainly something they can’t do next week for the semi final.

“Tired in 60 Seconds” jumped from fourth to first in the final two weeks to end up as the league leaders and go into the play-off as the number one seed. It is the first time all season atop of the standings, their timing obviously perfect. “The Snooze Brothers” ended up last, a spot they occupied since round two. They were fourth after round 1, but clearly fell asleep after that. These two teams played each other in the final round and completed 7 of 8 contests. “Tired in 60 Seconds” won the evening 17-15, but it does go to show that even the team that finished last could have been competitive if they played their matches. Here are some of the season statistics:

·         Overall, 76% of the matches were completed. That’s and increase of 13% on last year, and the highest playing percentage the league has ever had. Great job!!

·         “Robodrops” played the most with 86% of their matches completed.

·         Surprisingly, “Nightmare on Madison Street”, who finished second, ended up with the second lowest playing percentage with 68%.

·         “Lord of the Tins” has the lowest playing percentage with 66%. That’s still higher than last year’s average.

·         Three teams broke the 100 point barrier this season. Before that, only one team in all the past summer league seasons has managed to do that.

·         The last 4 teams on the standings picked up the fewest bonus points. A trend that proves itself every year.

·         5 players collected all possible bonus points.

·         The top team collected the most bonus points. 8 more than the next best.

·         Only 2 players out of the 64 did not pick up any bonus points. That’s impressive.

·         All but 3 matches were played in round 1. And all but 6 matches were completed in rounds 2, 4 and 6.

·         Every player on “Tired in 60 Seconds” scored at least 10 points for their team.

·         Only 1 player on “The Snooze Brothers” scored at least 10 points.

·         Nick Scavone from the “Boast-Busters” scored the most points in the league with 21. And he didn’t play round 7.

·         12 players completed all 7 matches. Only one went through undefeated as well – John Mann from “Tired in 60 Seconds”.

·         “The Snooze Brothers” played six matches in round 4. They lost them all 3-0.

·         “Framer versus Framer” did the same thing in round 6.

·         The reason “Nightmare on Madison Street” finished second with the second lowest playing percentage was because they lost only one match in the entire season 0-3, five matches 1-2, and won the rest.

On to the semi finals. Players have until Tuesday, July 17 (inclusive) to complete their matches. If “Nightmare on Madison Street” actually turn up and play, they could be the team to beat based on their winning percentage. They took pretty good care of the “Robodrops” in round 5 beating them soundly 20-10. The other match-up was a lot closer. “Boast-Busters” narrowly beat “Tired in 60 Seconds” 19-18 back in round 4. Promises to be interesting.