On the weekend of 17th and 18th March the Senior Mixed doubles team reached the national finals of the AEGON Senior Students Winter Tennis Competition.
The finals constituted of the last 8 teams in the country in this format and the players had earned their place with victories over Stroud High, Huish Episcopi Academy, Kingswood School and Newquay Tretherras.
In the finals at Bolton Arena the teams were split into two pools of four with each team playing all the other teams in their pool. The winner of each pool then played in the final.
The team began with a hard fought 5-4 win over Hartlepool VIth form college with Harriet Blacker and Marc Fisher winning the deciding championship tie break 10-8.
The team then lost 0-8 to the second seeds, Wygeston and QEI but put up a good fight with Will Gibbs and Blacker losing tight matches 4-6 and 6-7. The final match also came down to a tie break shoot out but unfortunately this one was lost 6-10 leading to a 4-5 loss to Queen Mary’s college, Hampshire.
The team came 3rd in their pool effectively securing a top 6 finish which was an excellent achievement in the first time Beechen Cliff have made it through to the national finals.
The whole team: Will Gibbs, Harriet Blacker, Marc Fisher and Josie Rochford-Smith deserve a lot of credit for their determination and success over the last few months.