The students spent last Saturday evening at the club polishing their serve spins and finalising doubles’ strategies. Numerous competitive singles and doubles matches were played off level in preparation for Varsity, and the sporty evening full of emotions lasted until late.

On the Green court, Miles Kempton (M2) and Jonathan Marrow were up against Leo Sanitt and Ulla Petti (W1), who managed to win a close match full of long rallies and deuces 8:2. Camice Revier (W2) and Jonathan Marrow put up a good fight against Lucy Caines (W1) and Julius Gasson, but Julius’s unbelievable forehands brought their team an 8:6 win. Practicing for Varsity doubles, Lucy and Ulla finished second against Miles and Julius after the deciding game at 7 all – but now the W1 first pair knows exactly what to practice for their big match!

In singles, the title of the longest match goes to Alison Dauris and Camice – in a match full of amazing points and cheers from the audience, Camice won 6:4. Miles remained unbeatable in singles thanks to Ulla and Leo, both going home with a bagel. Leo showed amazing consistency in his other singles matches, giving only 1 game to Jonathan and 2 to Ulla. Lucy showed great skills and focus, winning both of her singles matches against Julius (6:1) and Jonathan (6:5).

The winners of the evening were determined by our computer scientist Leo using complex algorithms and calculations – congratulations Julius, Lucy, Jonathan, and Miles!

We thank the Giraffe Club for the support – a hot bowl of soup and energizing snacks boosted our performance throughout the challenging matches!

It was a great evening and practice tournament – the team players certainly feel prepared to face their Oxford opponents at Second’s Varsity this Friday and Saturday (24^th-25^th February) in Cambridge, and First’s Varsity at Lords the week after (3^rd-4^th March) at Lord’s.

Ulla Petti, Women’s Varsity Captain, 2023