THREE representatives from Hexham Squash Club just missed out on top honours as they contested the Northumbria Junior County Closed Competition.

Annabelle Satow, Tom Watts and Luke Radley all made their mark against competition from across the region.

Annabelle won her first three matches in the U15 girls’ competition without dropping a game to set up a final contest against Tynemouth’s Mia Smith.

The Hexham club member gained the upper hand by taking the first game, but Mia scooped the title by taking the next three games 4-11, 7-11 and 9-11.

In the U13 boys’ contest, Tom Watts started as second seed and won his first two games to set up a final with regular rival Sam Ponente, of Northern.

Tom was unable to maintain the momentum which saw him survive a scare in the semi-finals, and Sam pushed on to win all three games in the final.

Up-and-coming star Sam really is a name to watch out for and he showed his class in the U15 category as he defeated Tom’s Hexham teammate Luke in his second of four games. Luke started well by winning his opening match 3-0, before he went down 1-3 to Sam. He recovered in his third match to take the first game, however, he lost the next three.

Yet, Luke was not finished there and won his final match 3-0 to finish in a very respectable seventh spot.

The success for Hexham followed the appearance of Annabelle and Luke in the recent Regional Closed event.

Luke had a tough draw and was drawn against second seed Joe Royle in the opening round, going down 0-3.

Despite three close games, Luke again lost 0-3 to Teesside’s Dan Leech before he composed himself to win the third game against Adam Houlridge, of Yorkshire, 3-1.

Rounding off his competition, Luke faced fellow North-Easterner Angus Dean and, after a close first game, went on to win comfortably 3-0.

Annabelle recovered from a stuttering start to defeat regular opponent Zoe Shipsey 3-1, but she was outclassed in the 0-3 defeat to number one seed Fran Hall in the second game. Annabelle was locked in a close-fought battle with Hull’s Keiko Bedford in her final game, the players tied at 2-2 after the opening two games.

But Annabelle had ground her down and took the deciding game 11-0 to claim third overall in the U15 class.