Mens seconds
One of the most exciting events to feature on Stan Calvert Sunday was the Tennis competition at the Northumberland Lawn Tennis Association. The events took place on the impressive indoor courts with the seating filled by the Universities’ tennis fans past and present.
The day started with early Northumbria wins in the Men’s 2 competition as Toby Leonard, James White, James Donnelly and Scott McKenzie fell victims to Northumbria’s abilities. Nonetheless, there were valiant performances from the Newcastle players. Notably, in the Men’s 2 Doubles, Leonard and White managed to come back from a 3-0 game deficit in their first set to make it a tightly challenged affair.
There were valiant performances from the Newcastle players
Northumbria clung on for that first set and, despite some superb White volleys bringing the second to a tiebreak, Northumbria eventually turned over a stubborn Newcastle. We spoke to Leonard about the duel:
“Stan Calvert is always such an exciting day and the atmosphere was great as always. After a few close matches we came out with the loss today, but we’ll be back next year to fight for the win.”
Mens firsts
Next up was the Men’s 1 team who commenced with the doubles fixtures as Corey Chan, Jurgen Springer, Alex Dodd and Joe Thompson entered the fray. The latter pairing endured a straight set loss in 6-4, 6-1 which saw Northumbria’s Sam Archer steal the show.
However, on the next court, a fierce fight between the Chan/Springer pairing and their opponents was taking place.
The second set saw Springer dazzle and it took a tiebreak to settle the two teams
Despite Northumbria double faulting on the match’s very first point, they cruised to a first set victory. The second set saw Springer dazzle and it took a tiebreak to settle the two teams, Newcastle claiming that set.
The final set was decided by a 10-point tiebreak which, despite Springer’s acrobatics, was finally clinched by Northumbria. The ensuing Men’s 1 single matches saw more victories for Northumbria who only dropped one set in the whole of the men’s competition.