HONITON ladies bowed out in the quarter-finals of the English Women's Indoor Association Lingford Trophy after going down 37-26 to Poole's Dolphin Club.

It has been an exciting run for Honiton in their first season in this two triples event for under-60s.

They gave 15-year-old Gemma Newham her first game at senior level and she joined fellow teenager Hannah Morfey in the six-strong line-up.

"Gemma played particularly well and led for Yvonne Rayner and Sue Evans," said Honiton member Tony Broughton, after the triple had emerged victorious by a single shot (16-15).

The previously unbeaten triple of Hannah Morfey, Lynda Dommett and the newly-married Carole Binmore went down 22-10.

It is the first time Dolphin have won through to the last eight, so it was a great achievement for Honiton to have emulated their rivals in their first season in the competition.

"It really was a fine performance by a young Honiton team against a very strong team from a club that has over one thousand members," said Broughton.

Exonia's Simon Broom and Kevin Phillips put in winning performances in the DCIBA Top Club Trophy but it was not enough to deny Torquay United a 3-2 victory over the reigning champions.

Broom came back from 18-12 down to beat newly-crowned English Players Bowling Association singles champion Danny Denison 21-20 in the Two-Wood singles. Phillips linked up well with Roger Fieldhouse, Dave Veale and Mike Dyer to thrash Griff Sanders (Torquay ) 20-5.

The best of five disciplines saw Torquay win the triples and the pairs, with John Evans taking the Four-Wood singles after beating Simon Stevens.

Exonia were always playing catch-up in the triples with John Hooper, Bill Davis and Nathan Farrant conceding a five and a four on their way to losing to David Evans, Craig Down and England reserve James Webber 25-9.

In the pairs, Ryan Whitlock and England international Sam Tolchard were 13-3 up against Chris Bond and Glenn Allen before closing out 19-13.

It was a good fightback by the Exonia pair, with Denison reduced to the role of spectator after falling to Broom.

Torquay will now play Madeira in the quarter-finals and Padbrook Park face Torbay. Plymouth's 3-2 win over Honiton will see them take on Sidmouth and completing the line-up are Kingsley and Mid Devon, who beat Budleigh Salterton 3-2.

In the DCIBA inter-club event, Budleigh beat Axminster 84-69. Axminster won on two rinks with success for Les Monk, Neil Solomon, Malcolm Denslow and Norman Denslow (21-11) and Geoff Clode, Philip Stephens, Brian Parsons and Charlie Barber (20-19).

Madeira's Sue Harriott beat Honiton's Rosemary Hirons in the EWIBA singles to reach the zone final. In the build-up to the match, Harriott took her rink of Angela Denner and Christine McCauley to Honiton and was beaten by Ann Brown, Julie Grant and Shirley Hiscocks (20-12) in the county triples.

Devon's England international Barbara Bellamy teamed up with Amanda Higginbotham and Sophie Tolchard to reach the EWIBA national finals of the triples.

Former Exeter students Natalie Melmore and Sian Gordon are in the England Commonwealth Games squad, which set off for Melbourne this week to take part in the Australian Open and a Test series with the Australian team.

In short mat bowls, the Devon A team were beaten 30-10 by the West Midlands in the knockout stages of the inter-county championships, with the Devon premier side hoping to do better later this month when they face East Sussex or Cheshire at Northampton.