Drumchapel Glasgow hung on to their Women’s British Clubs League Premier Division title, but only after Wensum pushed them to the limit.

Seven divisional champions were crowned at WV Active Aldersley in Wolverhampton, and Drumchapel’s title was their third in succession.

Team of the Weekend were Youngs from Division 4 and Player of the Weekend went to Aldora Li of Graham Spicer.

The Solihull Trophy was awarded to umpire Richard Grover. The award is for a coach, official or player who has most enhanced the WBL this season, based on the most nominations from clubs.

Photos by Michael Loveder.

The top two in the Premier Division met in the final round of fixtures with Wensum standing a point behind and therefore needing a win to leapfrog the Glasgow side.

They got the perfect start when Sophie Earley defeated Hannah Silcock 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 12-10).

Drumchapel came back to lead as Ella Pashley defeated Jasmin Wong 3-1 (11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 11-8) and WeiWei Liu came from behind to see off Aleksandra Titievskaja 3-2 (11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6).

Earley’s second five-set win, this time against Pashley, put things back in the balance. It was a terrific win, too, as she came from 2-0 down and edged the fourth, saving a match point, on her way to a 3-2 (8-11, 5-11, 11-9, 15-13, 11-6) success.

In the end, it was Silcock who brough the title home as she won the only tie of the match to be decided in three – 11-7, 11-4, 11-5 against Titievskaja.

There was still time for Wong to level the match score by edging Liu 3-2 (1-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5) after yet another fine comeback, but the title was already in Glasgow.

Wensum had been in top form up to that point, with two 6-0 and two 5-1 victories applying pressure to the leaders. Drumchapel withstood it most of the way, though they did drop a point in a 3-3 draw with Joola Plymouth on Saturday afternoon.

Plymouth won the two matches which went the distance – Yat Sum Ma beating Silcock from 2-0 down and Alyssa Nguyen overcoming Bethany O’Connell 12-10 in the fifth. Again, it was Silcock who made sure Glasgow got something from the match as she defeated Yuki Gresswell in three.

So Drumchapel, with six wins and four draws, won the title by a point and there was then a five-point gap to 2023 champions Fusion in third.

In the averages, Earley topped the pile with an outstanding 19/20 – the rate of 95% putting her some way clear of the chasing pack, headed by Ormesby’s Mia O’Rahilly Egan with 12/14 (85.71%).

Worthing A and Halton were the outstanding sides in Division 1, and it was Worthing who edged it by a point, thanks to a 4-2 victory when the sides met in Round 9.

The first match in that fixture was a titanic struggle between Ewelina Sychta and Darcie Proud, which the latter eventually won 3-2 (13-11, 16-14, 11-13, 11-13, 11-8).

Sally Hughes then won in five against Joanne Keighley, but Halton fought back to level at 2-2 with wins for Clare Peers and Sychta. But Proud and Holly Holder then beat Peers and Keighley to ensure a vital victory for Worthing, who went on to seal the title with a 5-1 defeat of Ellenborough in Round 10.

Worthing also owed their title to a comeback against Byng Hall on Saturday afternoon, rescuing a point from 2-0 and 3-1 down as Holder and Proud won five-setters against Naomi Jackson and Jurate Brazaityte respectively in the final two matches.

Ellenborough’s Hurey Ahmetoglu topped the averages with 9/10, with Proud the pick of the more regular players with 15/20 for 75%.

Division 2 was a tight one, with the top three teams separated by just a point and no side unbeaten – in fact, every side in the division lost at least twice.

Draycott II got the title by a point from Brighton A, who were ahead of third-placed Ackworth on sets ratio.

Draycott started the weekend with two draws but righted the ship with an important and emphatic 6-0 scoreline against Ackworth on Saturday evening.

Ackworth and Brighton then drew 3-3 in the penultimate round to open the door for Draycott, and they walked through it with a 4-2 victory over Brighton in the final round, staving off a comeback by the south coast side, who clawed back to 2-2 from 2-0 down.

Millie Noble, Evie Knaapen and Catherine Lv were the victorious Draycott trop, and Lv was their top performer in the averages with 14/18 for 77.8% – just behind the 80% win-rates of Jonabel Taguibao (Greenhouse) and Teresa Bennet (Brighton), both from the full complement of 20 matches.

Flick were perfect in winning Division 3 by the proverbial country mile, six points clear of runners-up Colebridge.

They won every match of Weekend 2 6-0, making it 10 wins out of 10 with only two individual matches lost out of 60. Their set ratio of 29 as against Colebridge’s 1.4 further underscoring their control of the division.

Naturally, Flick dominated the averages too, with Lok Yee Lo and Meige Wang both boasting a full house of 20 wins and Binyu Zhao winning 18/18.

There was a second title for Drumchapel Glasgow as their third team won Division 4 – but by golly was it close!

The top three teams all finished on 14 points, but Drumchapel were ahead – just – of Graham Spicer and WW Lightning on sets ratio.

Drumchapel started Saturday with a draw against Worthing C and then a 5-1 loss to Graham Spicer, but they bounced back to win their last three matches, ending with a 6-0 thumping of WW Lightning. Graham Spicer won four matches on the weekend, but their 3-3 draw against the Lightning ultimately denied both the title.

Graham Spicer’s Aldora Li topped the averages with 10/10 – ahead of team-mate Chui-Que Wong who notched 15/18 (83.33%).

By contrast, Halton III were runaway winners of Division 5, five points ahead of TJ’s Super Women and completing an unbeaten season with nine wins and a draw.

That draw was on Weekend 1, so it was a 100% weekend for Halton, including a 4-2 win over their closest rivals on Sunday morning.

Tsz In Ria Wun was top of the averages, the Halton player winning all 16 of the matches she played.

Falmouth Docks made the journey back to deepest Cornwall with the Division 7 title courtesy of an unbeaten season of six wins and four defeats.

Runners-up Ellenborough II actually won a match more than the champions, but finished behind them on set ratio, having drawn two and lost one.

Both matches between the top two ended 3-3, including in the final round, when Falmouth came from 3-1 down to snatch a point – and the title. They completed the comeback when Dominique Williams defeated Zoe Gonpot 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8) in a tight final match.

Shazia Tariq of Continental Stars was top of the averages with 19/20, including helping her team to defeat Ellenborough in what proved to be a crucial result.