In The Press
Quartet beaten in national final
From Bath Chronicle Thu 20 Mar, 2008
QUARTET BEATEN IN NATIONAL FINAL
Four Year 11 girls from the Royal High School saw their remarkable run in the National Senior Students Tennis Competition ended at the final hurdle by Brentwood in Bolton.
Kerry Smith, Katherine Hall, Emily Jolliffe and Charlotte Pool started out in the competition back in September and progressed through the knockout regional rounds by defeating the likes of Cheltenham Ladies and Hereford.
Royal High then beat Bristol Grammar School in a tense match in January to go through to the last eight in the country.
In the national finals in Bolton, the Royal High quartet were placed in a group of four schools, facing the demanding schedule of two matches on Friday and their final match on Saturday.
The girls opened up with a four sets to two victory over Tudor Hall School from Banbury.
Facing tough opposition on Friday afternoon against St Albans Girls School, the Bath team were level at three sets all after the six matches.
A championship tie break then decided the match and each school had to nominate a doubles pairing.
Smith and Hall showed incredible strength and were able to overcome their Tudor Hall opponents to give Royal High the win they needed after a gruelling 11 hour day on court.
Royal High then faced Framlingham, their toughest group appointments, the following day to decide who would go through to the final and produced some fantastic tennis to win by four sets to two.
Beating Brentwood in the final was always going to be a tough task.
But Royal High gave them a real run for their money and had wins from Smith and Hall in the doubles and Jolliffe in the singles to show for their efforts as they went down by four sets to two.
The girls were highly motivated and focused throughout the tournament to reach the national finals for the first time and a place in the last two exceeded all expectations.
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