REDDITCH HDA Tennis Club members have enjoyed their most successful year in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Aegon team tennis leagues.
The leagues offer players from around the county the opportunity to compete against other clubs in teams for all ages from 8&U through to adults.
The Redditch club entered 13 teams and 56 members from the club competed in the leagues between April and June. These consisted of 11 junior teams in a variety of age groups from 8&U through to 18&U and two men’s teams.
Redditch had led the way over the previous two years in the Aegon county leagues – winning the most leagues in 2012 and 2013 – and have now topped that by winning seven leagues in 2014, with five of those leagues being Division One, making the club county champions in five age groups.
The 9&U team of Paulina Jurkowska, Owen Perry, Seb Purvis, Ollie Campbell, Theo Needles and Billy Brind were unbeaten and topped Division One after beating Hereford 16-4, Worcester 20-0 and Manor Park of Malvern 14-6. Their toughest match was against Bromsgrove and finished 10-10.
The 8&U A team finished third in Division One and the 8&U B team won Division Three after beating Stourport A, Ombersley A, David Lloyd Worcester A and gaining a draw against Boughton Park A.
The 10&U team also topped county Division One as the squad of Harvey Ravenscroft, Matthew Anderson, Joseph Hollier, Alex Pillinger and Owen Perry beat Pershore 8-4, Manor Park 12-0 and Bromsgrove 10-2. The 10&U B team were in Division Two and lost to Barnt Green A 10-2 and Droitwich A 8-4.
The 12&U boys’ A team finished third in Division One and the B team finished runners-up in Division Two, whilst the 14&U boys’ A and B team both topped Division One and Two respectively.
The A team beat Pershore 12-0 and Bromsgrove 10-2 and the B team beat Worcester and Belbroughton 8-4, as well as defeating Stourport 12-0 and Barnt Green 10-2.
The 16&U boys defeated Boughton Park 12-0 and Hereford 10-2 and the final game was key to claiming top spot as the Redditch team found themselves at 6-6 in rubbers and Ben Portman and Joseph Morris had to step up and win the deciding tie-break 10-6 to clinch the title.
The 18&U boys comfortably won their first two matches 12-0 against Droitwich and Inkberrow. The final match was the crucial one against Ross. Last year the Redditch boys lost this tie and finished runners-up, so this year the team of Tim Bradley, Adam Darby, James McDonald and Ben Portman were adamant this was not going to happen again.
The tie was 2-2 after the singles and in the doubles it was all to play for. Tim and Adam won their rubber 6-2, 7-6, whilst James and Ben had a tough battle but at one set all the Redditch boys found an extra gear to win the deciding match tie-break 10-6 to take the title.
This year there were two men’s teams competing in Division Two and Three respectively. The A team beat Stourport 12-0, Hereford 8-4 and Hallow 8-4, but lost to Manor Park B 10-2 and finished second in the league.
The B team was a new team this year and the results improved as the matches progressed. The first match was lost to Bewdley B 12-0 then the next tie was 8-4 to Ombersley.
The final match was their strongest and Redditch B defeated Stourport B 12-0.
The club offers opportunities to play tennis socially and competitively for all ages and abilities – adults and juniors – as well as offering a range of coaching courses. If you are interested and would like to come along please contact Marie Newman on 07763 495571 or [email protected], or Tony Ravenscroft on 07969 649092 or [email protected].
