National Schools Championships Underway At Repton

18/03/24: The main week of this year's National Schools' Championships got up and running at Repton yesterday - the first time the competition has been held there.

The first two competitions out of the blocks were the boys and girls U15 competitions, which both got as far a the semi-final stage. Those two competitions wll conclude today, while the U16s get their tournaments underway.

Seb Cooley reports: It was an excellent day’s fives at Repton characterised by close matches and a few upsets. Only three seeds made it though to the quarters without suffering an upset somewhere, though mostly they did still make it through groups to the last 16. Some of these matches were very well-fought: setting was lurking in the corner of every buttress and three went to a deciding set (with notable performances from QEB 2 and 3). The last match on court was the traditional five-set quarterfinal, this one seeing Charterhouse prevail at the last against Eton, a match otherwise notable for the Charterhouse pair speaking to each other almost entirely in French.

The girls started on four courts in the afternoon and positively rocketed through their early rounds, getting their quarter-finals on even before the boys did. Only a lengthy semi-final took out the possibility of completion in one day. Highgate, who have dropped very few points so far, await Shrewsbury in a final which will happen tomorrow morning. The weather stayed benign after threatening damp in the morning; the pizza van did a roaring trade; Repton has put its best foot forward and we look forward to more of the same through the week.

Results

Boys Under 15s

Quarter-Finals

Berkhamsted 1 beat QEB 3 3-0 (12-8, 12-8, 12-2)

Charterhouse 1 beat Eton 1 3-2 (12-4, 9-12, 10-13, 12-8, 12-8)

QEB 2 beat St.Olave's 1 3-1 (12-2, 12-2, 10-13, 12-6)

Shrewsbury 1 beat Harrow

Girls U15

Quarter-Finals

Highgate 1 beat Shrewsbury 3 2-0 (8-0, 8-0)

Ipswich 1 beat Shrewsbury 5 2-0 (8-0, 8-0)

Highgate 2 beat Shrewsbury 2 2-0 (8-7, 8-6)

Shrewsbury 1 beat Repton 1 2-0 (8-1, 8-2)

Semi-Finals

Highgate 1 (M.Roxburgh & Z.Kirstein) beat Highgate 2 (S.Valensise & A.Holmes) 2-0 (12-3, 12-0)

Shrewsbury 1 (M.Parry & S.Earles) beat Ipswich 1 (M.Hodgkinson & B.Laws) 2-1 (6-12, 12-10, 12-8)

Several of the younger age group competitions have already been played at different venues over the course of the last few weeks, with the following winners:

Under 11

Berkhamsted 1 (H Seddon & O Moss) beat Sunningdale 1 (N Lintott & T Logue) 2-1

Under 12

Sunningdale 1 (L Guest & H Hore) beat Berkhamsted 1 (T Awdry & O Hawkes) 2-0

Under 13

Ipswich 1 (H Silverwood & K Soni) beat Sunningdale 1 (I Corn & H Hore) 2-0

Girls U13

Berkhamsted 1 (I Conde & R Whitby) beat Ipswich 1 (M Hodgkinson & B Laws) 2-0

Girls U14

Highgate 2 (L Offerinda & V Maslovski) beat Shrewsbury 1 (S Carles & F Jarvis) 2-0