LADIES teams from Salisbury, Riverside and Downton pulled off a splendid trio of away wins, while newcomers Victoria Park were the only victors among the local men's sides on the opening weekend of the Hants and IOW League.

Salisbury, at Winchester Division One, Riverside on their Division Two debut against East Dorset at Parkstone, and Downton in Southampton against Bassett B all had new faces in their teams.

The Salisbury newcomers Kath Moore and June Keen both played key roles as their side squeezed out a 5-4 win with the help of a crucial tie-breaker decider claimed by Zoe Chadder-ton and Bridget Hamilton, and despite Winchester's first pair winning all their matches.

Debut-making Carol Rogers, alongside her past Harrow Way partner, Linda Machin, weighed in with a priceless treble as Riverside made a tonic start following promotion with a 6-3 win at East Dorset.

Downton, who triumphed 5-4 on Astroturf against Bassett B on Sunday morning, had newcomers Jenny Strange, Jo Neudegg and Lisa Fox boosting the cause behind first pair Rita Hampson and Fiona Saunders who impressively won all six of their sets.

The first ever Hampshire League match for Victoria Park was marked down with a 7-2 win for the men over Lyndhurst B. The sense of expectation at the club built up for the match was fulfilled with three excellent wins for the young first pair Nick Brown and Dominic Amos, three more by older team mates Simon Stone and Dean Knight, and another by Rob Gerwat and Sam Strange.

Men's teams in the higher divisions found first matches tough. At Kings-ley, in Division One, two wins against the home third pair were all Salis-bury could rescue against the very capable North Hampshire side.

A win by each home pair against the visiting Avenue B third couple was the limit of Riverside A's success in Division 3A.

Downton A could have finished with far better than a 7-2 defeat by Kingsgate at Winchester, had they not lost all three tie breaker deciders, but Downton B found themselves outclassed at Ring-wood against the David Lloyd line-up.

Midweek matches in the Hants and IOW Veterans League brought wining starts for Salisbury and Riverside men at Over 45, and for the Salisbury Over 50 ladies, but Riverside's Over 55 men lamented their fate after defeat by a solitary game away to David Lloyd Southampton.

Salisbury's juniors have added early-season titles to their locker. Tom Williams, 15, won a top LTA junior event in the Midlands, while at the week-long Hale Gardens tournament, Chris Chapman was under 16s champion and runner-up at under 18s, with Dicken Chaplin, a losing under 16s semi-finalist.