This year’s tournament was a fantastic mix of the familiar and the new, writes organiser Alex Smith. The familiar and impressive skills of the girls from Eastbourne College, Rugby School, Christ’s Hospital and Marlborough College were joined by two new schools, Rossall and Aldenham.
These new arrivals among the junior competitions certainly helped to make the tournament as fiercely contested as previous years. As ever, no school managed victory across all four age-groups, but the girls of Christ’s Hospital again showed their dominance at the lower ages, claiming the “clean sweep” of junior singles titles, winning gold at U16, U14 and U13.
At senior level it was Eastbourne College who were dominant in singles and doubles, whereas Christ’s Hospital and Rugby School shared the spoils at U16, with Christ’s Hospital dominating the junior age groups at U14 and U13, fighting off strong challenges from Aldenham. The girls from Rossall and Aldenham did not go home empty-handed, winning a clutch of silver and bronze medals. These new participants were hugely committed and played hard in U13, U14 and U16 categories, and it was the three Aldenham girls who caused the most problems for the seeding committee with players reaching finals and pushing the winners close in two tournaments before claiming silver in the U13 and U16 age-groups.
In the senior (U18) singles, Tessa Mills of Eastbourne College proved why she has held the senior singles for the past three years, progressing from her group without losing a point. Her team-mate Izzy Why came ahead in the other group after a tough final game with Milly Browne from Rugby School. Tessa went on to come through her semi-final comfortably, whereas in the other semi an injured Izzy didn’t have quite enough left to overcome the other strong Rugby player, Eliza Talbot-Williams. Tessa and Eliza then met in the final, with Tessa’s power and accuracy being the decisive factor, meaning that Tessa finished as senior singles champion for the fourth year running.
In the U18 doubles, Tessa completed her dominance by pairing up with Izzy Why to take the senior title, against the strong Rugby pair of Eliza and Milly, with Marlborough College girls Emma Colebatch & Melinda Hudson finishing with bronze medals.
At the U16 singles it was Christ’s Hospital, Rugby and Rossall who looked set to dominate, with their experienced top players all reaching the knock-out stages. However, Amy Flood from Aldenham, playing in her first Rugby Fives tournament, had other ideas. Amy won her singles group and, having fought off Kate Shelina from Rossall in the semi-final, took on Louise Matthias, previous U14 and U13 Singles champion, and last year’s U16 semi-finalist. Newcomer Amy started in impressive fashion, and reached championship point first, her powerful serves and volleying discomforting Louise. But Louise, aided by her tournament experience, fought back hard and with some very accurate hitting to Amy’s left hand managed to take the title 12-11.
At U14 Christ’s Hospital dominated singles and doubles. The four CH girls reaching the semi-finals, but this did not make the games any less competitive, as Beatrix Crinnion had a very narrow win in her semi against Phoebe Thornhill. Molly Todd finished with the gold against Beatrix, whilst Phoebe Thornhill took the bronze against Tamsin Denny after both girls had seen off opposition from the two novice Rugby girls. The Christ’s Hospital pairs also took gold and silver in the doubles, with Rugby taking bronze.
In the U13 tournament, however, Christ’s Hospital found the going harder against girls from Aldenham and Rossall. Abigail James and Emma Conway of Aldenham, playing their first Rugby fives, learnt quickly. Abigail reached the singles semi-final, where she reached game point against Stella Saunt-Hills of CH, but Abbie could not hold on. Stella went on to win gold against her team-mate Ines, whilst Abbie took bronze. The Rossall girls, also new to the game, fought hard in both tournaments, and took the bronze doubles. The girls from Aldenham finished with doubles silver, whilst Christ’s Hospital claimed a third set of gold doubles medals, their coach Mr Hatton pleased to have won the Oxford Cup as well as the Cambridge.
The championship was kindly hosted by Marlborough College, and all participants are looking forward to next year.
RESULTS
Senior (U18) Singles
Group A: (1) Tessa Mills (Eastbourne), (2) E. Talbot-Williams (Rugby), (3) J. Urtasun (Marlborough), (4) M. Hudson (Marlborough)
Group B: (1) Izzy Why (Eastbourne), (2) M. Browne (Rugby), (3) S. Spink (Marlborough), (4) E. Colebatch (Marlborough)
Semi-finals: T. Mills bt M. Browne 15-0, E. Talbot-Williams bt I. Why 15-8.
Plate: M. Browne bt I. Why 15-10
Final: T. Mills bt E. Talbot-Williams 15-2
Senior (U18) Doubles
Round-robin: (1) Eastbourne I, (2) Rugby I, (3) Marlborough II
U16 Singles
Group A: (1) L. Matthias (Christ’s Hospital), (2) K. Martin (Rugby), (3) J. Jones (Marlborough)
Group B: (1) A. Flood (Aldenham), (2) K. Broad (Rugby), (3) K. Valieva (Rossall)
Group C: (1) K. Shelina (Rossall), (2) M. Richards (Rugby), O. Walsh (Christ’s Hospital),
U16 Doubles
Round-robin: (1) Rugby I, (2) Christ’s Hospital I, (3) Rugby II, (4) Rossall I
U14 Singles
Group A: (1) M. Todd (Christ’s Hospital), (2) P. Thornhill (Christ’s Hospital), (3) K. Mehta (Rugby)
Group B: (1) B. Crinnion (Christ’s Hospital), (2) T. Denny (Christ’s Hospital), (3) H. Byrne (Rugby)
Semi-finals: M. Todd bt T. Denny 11-4, B. Crinnion bt P. Thornhill 12-11.
Plate: P. Thornhill bt T. Denny 11-5
Final: M. Todd bt B. Crinnion 11-7
U14 Doubles
Round-robin: (1) Christ’s Hospital I, (2) Christ’s Hospital II, (3) Rugby I,
U13 Singles
Group A: (1) I. Barnard-Masterson (Christ’s Hospital), (2) A. James (Aldenham), (3) S. Pan (Rossall), (4) T. Walkden (Rossall)
Group B: (1) S. Saunt-Hills (Christ’s Hospital), (2) A. Gned (Rossall), (3) E. Conway (Aldenham), (4) S-A. Storm-Eckersley (Rossall)
Semi-finals: S. Saunt-Hills bt A. James 12-10, I. Barnard-Masterson bt A. Gned 11-4.
Plate: A. James bt E. Conway 11-3
Final: S. Saunt-Hills bt I. Barnard-Masterson 11-7
U13 Doubles
Round-robin: (1) Christ’s Hospital I, (2) Aldenham, (3) Rossall I, (4) Rossall II,
