Just a few weeks before the Christmas break, this is the week that everyone looks forward to – Cup Week! There were some tough draws for a number of our teams in the Conference Cup as well as the Trophy.
This was the case for our Men's 5th team who travelled to Sheffield to take on Hallam 1sts. The singles rubbers kicked off first, with Parsa Boroujerdi and Jack Castledine having tightly contested battles on court. Drawing at four games each, with no breaks of serve thus far, both Boroujerdi and Castledine lost their service games allowing Sheffield Hallam to secure two tight first sets.Confidence seemed to run away from Castledine, along with the scoreline in his second set, handing Hallam the opening rubber. In a similar fashion, Boroujerdi lost his second set 6-1.
Leeds No.1 John Austen and No.2 Adam Hodgkinson also lost their singles rubbers meaning that Sheffield Hallam had won the match. Leeds were unlucky in the doubles losing 12 out of 13 games on sudden-death deuce. Despite this valiant effort, against a team three divisions higher, Leeds fifths lost the match 12-0.
Leeds Uni Men's 3rds had a little more success against a strong Lancaster 1st team. With Leeds Uni No.1 and 2 singles players, Florian Mongoin and Nick Valatsos winning in straight sets. In the other two singles rubbers, Tom Phillips and Liam Brearley were having significantly closer matches than their teammates. Phillips managed to close out a third set with ease, after losing the second set 6-3. Unfortunately Brearley could not follow suit, losing a tight third set to Lancaster's number four.
With a potential shootout on the cards, it was essential to win at least one doubles rubber in order to secure a place in the next round of the Conference Cup. This was looking unlikely after the pairing of Phillips and Mongoin lost their second set 6-1, to go into a championship tie-break. This was a tense moment for the Leeds boys, but eventually they prevailed winning 10-7. This inspiring victory was then followed up by a routine win in the doubles by Brearley and Valatsos, with Leeds running out 10-2 overall.
Overall four teams managed to progress to the next round in the cup competition, giving Leeds University valuable BUCS points.
As the season nears the Winter break, both Leeds University performance and recreational players can expect lots of tennis-related activity to take place in Semester two. This includes Timed Tennis, Matchplays, Squad Training, Box Leagues as well as a touchtennis Competition taking place on the 9th February with £200 prize money. This is open to all Student, so get involved in our touchtennis competition.