W3 The team started the first day in good spirits and went 4-2 down after the singles, before heading into the doubles. Clawing themselves back into contention, the first day ended with the score on a knife edge at 6-6. The following morning the girls played some tough singles and doubles matches to leave the score at 10-8 to Cambridge. Still all to play for. Then, after a truly epic doubles match, which our third pair narrowly lost, the Oxford girls were just edged out of a Varsity win with an overall score of 12-9. Onlookers report that for the whole weekend everyone kept each other’s spirits up and played with heart and determination. Skipper Bianca Gillam, chipper as ever, declared “I feel confident that the girls who are staying will go into next year and be in a strong position for a win - it was a pleasure to captain all of them and their attitude was so positive.” Well done to Caroline Ward, Celina Hartmann, Becca Vaughan, Ella Glover, Helen Baxendale, and Isabelle Atkins!
M3
M3 had a tough varsity this year against a strong bunch of Tabs but fought hard until the end. The focus this year had been mainly on doubles tactics and match play and it was great to see an improvement in this area compared to last year. The Dark Blues also had their chances in the singles with most of the matches going to a deciding set, but on the day, Cambridge came out the better team. The overall result was a 17-4 loss despite a huge range of very close and thoroughly enjoyable matches, for both the players and the spectators. There was a good turnout of supporters cheering on the home side and a good weekend was had by all. Plaudits to Luke Wintour for making his opponent play an extra three shots to win any point, Maximilian Klinger for possessing a wand of a left-hander and Eloy Torres Ramon for his never say die attitude. Further shout outs to Justus Loick's huge forehand, Jason Kwong for covering every blade of grass many times over, and Leonhard Hochfilzer for being himself #weloveyouLeo.
Looking forwards, Captain Grassick, when asked for comment, stated “some work on championship tiebreaks and the mentality going into them would be useful, as this was how we lost a lot of our matches”. Blunt stuff. But M3 had a thoroughly enjoyable varsity and have taken lots from it for the coming year.
