BUCS Wednesday was upon us again, with all teams in action; Men’s 1st at home to Aberystwyth, Men’s 2nds away to UWE 3rds and the Ladies first at home to Cardiff Met 2nds. Unfortunately the Men’s First Team Match was a walkover so the players headed to Oxstalls Sports Park to support a phenomenal day for the Ladies Team.
Team Captain, Abi Simmons with Eloise Bradfield, Jo Southcombe and Alicia Pigram set out for their first win in five years in BUCS. Abi Simmons and Alicia Pigram began proceedings with a 6-4 6-4 victory in their opening doubles to give UOG a 2-0 start. After a tough match the second doubles team of Eloise Bradfield and Jo Southcombe missed out on the victory with a tight 6-1 7-6 (8) loss setting up a 2-2 score line.
All singles matches started with great intensity in which the girls were highly motivated as they sensed a potential first BUCS victory in five years! Alicia Pigram set the standard with a 6-4 6-2 victory in the opening singles and was followed by an unbelievable display by the ladies number 1 Eloise Bradfield with a stunning display of aggressive shot selections and tactical play, winning 6-3 6-0. The win guaranteed a draw, but the ladies were determined for this monumental win. Abi Simmons was the next to finish her singles with a match of hard hitting groundstrokes and gruelling baseline exchanges, just missing out with a 6-4 6-1 score line.
This left Jo Southcombe, the remaining ladies singles to complete the match win. After taking the fist set 6-4, Jo found herself 5-2 down and facing a championship tiebreak. With unbelievable mental strength and willingness, Jo began to pull back game after game ensuring a tiebreak in the second set. With nerves from Jo’s teammates and University spectators, Jo emerged victorious from the tiebreak 7-3 completing the Ladies 1st Team win for five years in BUCs!
Abi Simmons (Ladies Captain): “It is a fantastic achievement for the ladies team. We have all trained incredibly hard to compete at our best and I am so pleased we have captured our first win in five years. As captain it is a pleasure to be part of this and promote the girls team. All our players have a natural ability and combine this with hard work and dedication to make a team that gels, not only as successful teammates but also as a strong group of friends. I am so happy for all those who played on Wednesday and I hope the success continues!”
Eloise Bradfield (Ladies Number 1): “So please with a win for the girls yesterday we worked well as a team both on and off the court with encouragement the whole way through. Some of the best tennis I’ve seen us play. Let’s hope this is the start of our winning streak!”
The University Men’s Second Team won 8-4 away at UWE 3rds to keep them joint top with Swansea 2nds on 12 points. A big achievement must be handed out to Alex Leason who is the Universities only 100% player winning 8 from 8 BUCs matches currently!
The teams will continue to push this year with the two Men’s teams on for promotion and the Ladies looking to add to this memorable Wednesday success!
“Blue and Blue, Through and Through…”
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