THE UTech Knights made it two-in-a-row as they blazed past the Unsquashables to successfully defend their title at the KPMG Squash Tournament which wrapped up over the weekend.

In a battle of youth versus experience, the Knights — led by junior champions Ashante Smith and Julian Morrison — posted a 2-1 victory over the Unsquashables, which included three former senior national players Wayne Burrowes, Joey Levy and Bruce Levy.

Things got off to a doubtful start for the Knights when Joey Levy beat Gavin Depass 21/18, 21/18, 21/17 to give the Unsquashables an early lead. That made way for a highly anticipated showdown between All-Jamaica Under-19 Champion Julian Morrison and 13-Time All-Jamaica Men’s Champion Wayne Burrowes.

After three games of explosive rallies, Morrison triumphed 21/9, 21/15, 21/3.

With the series even, it was all down to Under-19 Caribbean champion Ashante Smith and veteran Bruce Levy. Levy fought hard, but youth and vigour prevailed as Smith beat him 21/11, 21/11, 21/14 to maintain UTech’s hold on the coveted KPMG trophy.

“We could not have asked for a better final as we saw the two best teams pushing each other right down to the wire; the more experienced players did very well, but it’s thrilling to see the youngsters asserting themselves so decisively,” said tournament director Raymond Donaldson.

Tarun Handa, managing partner for KPMG in Jamaica, said his company was very satisfied with the quality of the tournament.

“Once again the KPMG league was very well-managed and very well contested. I am very impressed with the standard of competition we saw this year and we look forward to being on board again in 2015,” he said.