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University of York 1sts 6 -4 Sheffield University 1sts
The University of York Women’s Tennis first team triumphed convincingly on Wednesday in their first BUCS League match of 2010. Bouncing back from last week’s crushing defeat in the BUCS knockout cup, the team of Cat Hanrahan, Maria Hunt (captain), Danielle Spears and Caroline Brown re-established themselves as a threatening force in the battle for promotion. It was a strong York side which travelled to Sheffield, feeling confident that they could maintain their impressive record in the league this season and challenge for the top spot.
The match began with the doubles. Hanrahan and Hunt got off to a flying start, and were 4-0 up within the first ten minutes of play. However, Sheffield’s first doubles pairing weren’t going down without a fight, and managed to draw the match level at 7-7. The doubles was taken to a tense tie-break and York emerged victorious. The 8-7 victory served as fine encouragement for the remaining matches. Spears and Brown were also successful in their doubles, winning by 8 games to 5.
York looked to sustain momentum as they progressed into the singles. Hanrahan, the top seed, made an impressive start in her match and very quickly found herself 3-0 up in the first set. However, her opponent shortly retired due to a hip injury; a victory for York nonetheless.
Seeded second, Hunt went into her match on the back of a consistent doubles performance, but she was met with tough opposition. Despite the match lasting over an hour, she was defeated 1-6 3-6.
Both Spears and Brown had relatively short singles matches, with Spears winning 6-1 6-0. Brown lost the first set of her singles match 0-6 but almost took the match to a third set with a comeback in the second. Unfortunately, she wasn’t successful, but York still had enough points overall to secure the much-needed win.
Hunt said “It is a fantastic victory which has really boosted our team morale. We were quite down following our defeat in the BUCS cup last week, but now we can really concentrate on winning all of our remaining league matches to round off what has been a great season for women’s tennis at York.”
The women’s tennis firsts are currently second in the BUCS league with their next must-win match away at Durham in two weeks.
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