After a tremendous win for Trent in Thai boxing on Monday, the momentum unfortunately never managed to carry on throughout the week as Trent were brought down by the Green and Gold in the second Super Wednesday, men’s cricket and squash.
The second Super Wednesday began on a level playing field, with the series score standing at 2-2 after Trent’s terrific win on Monday in Thai Boxing.
This time the Green and Gold ventured forth to NTUs own Clifton Campus, where Trent put up a much better fight than last year.
Horseball was first up, and Trent managed to gain an early 1-0 lead, but it was a lead that was not maintained. UoN came back charging and took the win as Trent lost 5-2.
Trent’s performance in ultimate frisbee was considerably better than last year, which saw the team in pink without a single point.
This year the game was played outdoors with more players and as the gloomy morning clouds opened up into sunshine, so did Trent’s hopes for a better performance.
Despite adding points to the table with some excellent plays, the final result saw UoN take the win with a score of 13-4.
Trampolining and archery both saw wins for UoN, with a blowout win of 3-0 in archery but a closer fight in trampolining saw Trent almost bounce back, but they just missed out by five points. The final score settling at 50-45 to UoN.
In tennis, Trent served up some solid competition, threatening to walk out as the victors on numerous occasions as the score stood at 2-0 to NTU.
Trent put up a terrific display, but the win never materialised as UoN came back out from the darkness as the day progressed. The score settled at 11-5 to UoN.
In dodgeball, both teams offered some spectacular competition as balls were sent hurtling across the sports hall with but one goal: Knock the win out of the opposing team with force.
First up was the women’s game, and this saw Trent suffer multiple blows which led to an 18-2 win for UoN.
In the men’s game, the battle was more closely fought. Balls were thrown with velocity and ferociousness after the loss in the women’s game, but Trent never managed to knock some vengeance into their opponents. The score finalised at 11-9 as UoN came back from a considerable point deficit.
Dodgeball then saw a whitewash victory for UoN, as the mixed game saw a 14-4 score to finish Trent off for good.
The final event of the day was wheelchair basketball. This match-up was very closely fought towards the end.
During the first quarter, Trent offered up some solid defence and offensive rebounding, but various missed shots under the basket led to an 11-8 lead to UoN.
Trent’s terrific Dada bagged the first points in the second quarter with a deep two-pointer and Trent took the lead back with seven minutes to go. Trent’s Acey jumped in for some defensive action under the basket to prevent UoN retaliating, but the lead did not last long.
UoNs star player O’Connell sinks various shots late in the second to take the lead back after a turnover from Trent. NTU went without points for a considerable amount of time in the second until Stephen Thrower managed a slick spin-move and netted a couple of shots alongside Trent’s president Duane Nicols at the end of the quarter.
In the third quarter Trent slipped back further despite some glorious passing and shots from Lovatt.
Trent’s Nicol managed to redeem himself with a three-point play at the free-throw line after missing his previous foul line shots.
The score at the end of the third stood at 34-25 to UoN.
The fourth and final quarter saw Trent regain strength over a tiring UoN after pressing them with full court defence, but it wasn’t enough to take away the win.
With just 27 seconds to go in the final, the score settled at 44-39 and saw Trent just lose out in a remarkably close final quarter. It was a shame Trent never managed to find their shots earlier on, as this caused trouble towards the very end as their play got much stronger.
Super Wednesday ended with another whitewash performance from UoN despite some very close competition. The score 8-0 to the Green and Gold.
In squash on Friday, UoN managed a blowout performance on Trent in a similar display to the previous year.
Despite a good start from Trent’s Will Rowe with the first round ending 11-7 to NTU, the five-game match-up finally went to Uni of Nottingham’s Windle.
NTUs Mari Taylor then conceded the second match due to an injury, the score 2-0 to UoN.
After more consecutive losses handed down by UoN, Trent hoped to prevent a whitewash victory with Jamaican International Lewis Walters who recently played in the Commonwealth Games.
Despite a solid performance, Uni of Nottingham’s Owain Taylor beat Walters to take home the win, leaving the score at 5-0 to UoN as the dust settled.
In cricket, the women’s game earlier on in the series was cancelled due to bad weather, but the men’s game went to UoN, sending the Green and Gold into the coming week with a series score of 5-2.
If past years are anything to go by, Trent will put up a solid show tomorrow in Rugby as they attempt to tackle and halt Uni of Nottingham’s lead in the series.
By Joe Locker