Hill on high with second title

Ruby Hill has been crowned National u25 Singles champion for the second time.
The Spalding Indoor Bowls Club player beat fellow u25 international Imogen Jenner in the final at Solihull to repeat her 2022 success.
She qualified for the finals with wins earlier in the season against Alice Atkin, from Church Gresley, and Amica Fordy, from Hartlepool.
In the quarter-final, Hill beat Egham’s Yasmina Hasan in straight sets and booked her place in the final with another straight sets win in the semi-final against Malvern Hills player Hannah Smith.
Hill made light work of Swale-based Jenner in the final, winning the first set 12-3 and scoring a full house of four shots to go 8-5 up with one end to play in the second set. She held her nerve to score one shot to then win the set 9-5.
Hill will be representing England at the British Isles Championships in March and the Junior World Championships next season.
Stamford IBC hosted the County Sets Singles play-offs, with Spalding represented by defending champion Dominic McVittie, Jordan Philpott, Martin Spencer, Stephen Harris and Dan Mills.
McVittie kept his hopes alive of a third consecutive county sets singles title with wins against Kevin Rands, from Lincoln (2-1), Paul Johnson, from Scunthorpe (2-0), and James Staples from Lincoln (2-0), to qualify for the semi-finals.
He will be joined by Philpott, who recorded wins against Lincoln’s Mike Kent (2-0), Darren Trapmore, from Horncastle (2-0), and a closely contested match against club mate Spencer on the last end of the tie break (2-1). Earlier in the day, Harris beat Mills in the last 16 before losing to Chris Ballard in the quarter-final.
McVittie will play Ballard in the semi-final with Philpott taking on Lincoln’s Richard Ashton in the semi-finals at Louth on Sunday, March 17.
qSpalding Lightning played a closely contested match in the Mason Trophy against Lincoln on Friday.
Lightning started the stronger of the two teams but Lincoln fought back to ensure a nail-biting finish. With the home rink winning by ten and the away rink losing by ten, the match was decided on an extra end. The extra end was played at Lincoln and it was the hosts who held their nerve to win the match.
Rink scores – Home: Jean Patterson, Jan Sinclair, Sandra Hammond and Maisie Belding won 20-10.
Away: Ann Newbury, Carole Nunney, Betty Deaton and Julie Hicks lost 11-22.
qSpalding IBC’s friendly team enjoyed a fixture at Huntingdon on Sunday. After ten ends, Spalding were 12 shots behind, however, a concerted effort saw a strong finish from the away side as Spalding eventually won 108-82. Spalding won on four rinks, drew on one and lost on one but the top winning rink was skipped by Lily Drawbridge, with Peter Canfield and Dee Brinkman who won 22-12.