By Josh Mangham
York’s women eased to victory in this morning’s 1sts tennis match against St Johns, winning all six of their matches in effortless fashion.
Play started late as both teams took time to warm up in the bitter Sunday morning cold. St Johns seemed to be still warming up however as York took the early initiative, with first pairing Catherine Hanrahan and Maria Hunt capitalising on St Johns’ poor serving. Although play was of a high and fairly equal quality from both sides, St Johns failed to take advantage of their service games, at times making as many as three consecutive double faults. This proved to be the difference between the sides, with Hanrahan and Hunt eventually breaking away to win 8-3. Caroline Brown and Ellie Arkle, the second pairing, made light work of their opponents in an 8-1 thrashing.
If anything the four singles matches highlighted York’s superiority over St Johns even further, with the visiting university managing a mere seven games between them in four three-set matches. Although they displayed quality in their play, and at times challenged York with impressive shot making, the St Johns players failed to match the home team in consistency or mental strength, failing all too often at the crucial points. Catherine Hanrahan and Maria Hunt both romped to 6-1, 6-0 victories, whilst Caroline Brown won 6-1, 6-1 and Ellie Arkle 6-0, 6-3.
1sts captain Maria Hunt enthusiastically praised her players for what she called “a really good season and a great performance today”, and declared that the next priority was a Roses campaign to match last year’s stellar victory, in which none of the team lost a set. Before that though, and of immediate concern, was to “go out and celebrate a great Varsity weekend”.