
Oxford Win The Mixed
27/01/25: Oxford regained the Jesters Universities Mixed title at Eton yesterday, producing both finalists at the end of an exciting day's Fives.
Ten pairs made it to the start line this year, five from Cambridge - including defending champions Emilia Collinson & Lewis Drummond - three from Oxford and one each from Durham and Exeter, looking to break up the Oxbridge duopoly on the title for the first time since Liverpool in 2017.
Group A was dominated by Oxford 1 (Wulfrunian Ben Hart & Berkhamstedian Freya Butler) and Exeter (Harrovian Fred Prickett & Reptonian Claudia Tate), whose final round group game was one of the matches of the day. Both were already guaranteed a semi-final place having beaten Cambridge 2, 4 and 5 without undue difficulty and the Exeter pair showed they were going to be serious contenders, pushing the pre-tournament favourites all the way despite eventually losing 15-13.
The top end of Group B was a similar story with two pairs head and shouldes above the rest. In the 2024 tournament, Emilia & Lewis had defeated Oxford's Joel Robb in the final; this time Joel had the upper hand as he and partner Lorenza Valensise (Oxford 2) took top spot in the group with a 15-11 win over the Cambridge pair. The lower placings in the group were decided on points difference as Oxford 3 (Rachel McCormack & Edwin Gosnell), Durham (Tamara Fifield - a Cambridge student but representing Durham for the day - & Will Tate) and Cambridge 3 (Lucy Bland and Giles Holliday) all won one and lost one in a series of close matches.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th placed finishers from the group stage headed into the plate, Oxford 3 and Cambridge 5 (Anna Fitzpatrick & Conal Lowe) falling at the first hurdle and facing each other in the Plate B final, which was won 12-3, 12-8 by Oxford 3.
Durham, with Tamara the least experienced but fastest improving player in the field, were getting on a roll, defeating Alex Davies & Jamie Levinson (Cambridge 2) in the semi-finals to set up a Plate final rematch against Giles & Lucy, who defeated Cambridge 4 (Emma Spencer & Luke Maxwell) in the other semi-final. Durham had just had the edge in their group stage match with a 15-14 win, but Lucy & Giles produced their best performance of the day to win this one 15-8 and claim a top half finish. Cambridge 2 and Cambridge 4 - playing off for 7th and 8th place - managed to produce their second 15-14 result of the day, Cambridge 4 triumphing this time after Cambridge 2 had won by the same scoreline in the morning.
While all this was going on, the top four pairs were setting their sights on the trophy or at least the half of it that Cambridge had remembered to bring with them. The first semi-final was a Light Blue v Dark Blue clash as Oxford 1 took on Cambridge 1. Having won the title last year as surprise packages (they started the 2024 tournament as Cambridge's 3rd pair), Emilia & Lewis were determined to put up a strong defence of the trophy. Neither Ben (the 2022 champion) nor Freya took part in last year's competition, however, and while both Emilia & Lewis have undoubtedly improved as players since last year, they were unable to come up with any answers against the all round excellence of Ben & Freya, whose strong set piece and consistent all court game was too much for the Cambridge pair, who went down 12-2, 12-4.
The Exeter pair - new to the competition with Claudia in her first year at university - had already shown their ability in the morning's games and were aiming to prevent an all-Oxford final. Right from the start, their match against Joel & Lorenza was obviously going to be close with both pairs well-matched. Joel & Fred were both cutting well, giving little away against each other and picking up the single points allowed when they were serving at a similar rate, meaning it was one of those mixed matches that was going to come down to the ability of Claudia or Lorenza - who were also both matching each other shot for shot - to produce a little run of points when serving to give their pair the edge. It was the all-Cholmeleian Oxford pair who found it in the first game, getting their noses in front and holding on to win 12-9. Exeter made the running in game two though, getting ahead but then being pegged back. This one slowly inched forward a point at at a time, from 10-10 to 12-12 and then Oxford getting to gameball (and match point) first. They had a couple of chances, which were brilliantly saved by Claudia & Fred, who then got back to 14-14 before winning the final point themselves to deservedly take the match into a deciding game. With the tension mounting, the pairs couldn't be split up to 7-7 at which point Lorenza produced a crucial series of cut returns, winning three successive points to take Oxford to 10-7 and close to victory. In the end it was just enough of a margin to take them into the final, but Fred & Claudia fought hard, getting back to 11-10 and saving several more match points before Oxford finally got over the line to end a spectacular match.
Impressively, Exeter still had enough in the tank to win a 3rd/4th place play-off against Cambridge, while the two Oxford pairs took each other on in an all Dark Blue final. Ben & Freya would probably have gone into the match as favourites anyway, but having rested up while Joel & Lorenza were involved in their two hour epic, they had too much in the tank for their teammates. The first game of the final went their way 12-3 pretty quickly, and although Joel & Lorenza rallied in the second game and asked a few more questions of Ben & Freya, the Oxford first pair were always in control and took the second game 12-7 to take the title.
Our thanks go to the Jesters for their generous travel sponsorship that makes a crucial contribution to making this tournament happen, to Eton for hosting the competition, to the small but hardy band of spectators who braved some pretty unpleasant watching conditions and to all of the players who made it such an enjoyable day.
Semi-Finals
Oxford 1 (F.Butler & B.Hart) beat Cambridge 1 (E.Collinson & L.Drummond) 2-0 (12-2, 12-4)
Oxford 2 (L.Valensise & J.Robb) beat Exeter (C.Tate & F.Prickett) 2-1 (12-9, 14-15, 12-10)
Final
Oxford 1 beat Oxford 2 2-0 (12-3, 12-7)
3rd/4th
Exeter beat Cambridge 1 15-10
Plate A
Quarter-Finals
Durham (T.Fifield & W.Tate) beat Cambridge 5 (A.Fitzpatrick & C.Lowe) 15-0
Cambridge 4 (E.Spencer & L.Maxwell) beat Oxford 3 (R.McCormack & E.Gosnell) 15-10
Semi-Finals
Durham beat Cambridge 2 (A.Davies & J.Levinson) 15-13
Cambridge 3 (L.Bland & G.Holliday) beat Cambridge 4 15-10
Final
Cambridge 3 beat Durham 15-8
3rd/4th
Cambridge 4 beat Cambridge 2 15-14
Plate B
Oxford 3 beat Cambridge 5 2-0 (12-3, 12-8)