In what was one of the hottest, and hotly contested, summer league campaigns in both the Exeter and District league and the East Devon Mixed league, Sidmouth Tennis Club emerged from the sunshine with a superb set of results.
Four out of the nine teams entered by the Club won their divisions and thus gained promotion for next year's competitions. Both leagues, in spite of their names, involve competing against teams from as far away as Torquay and Okehampton, as well as against a wide variety of players, including some county competitors. The standard is high and the performances from Sidmouth were outstanding.
Arguably taking the top plaudits are Ladies' A team, who were victorious in Division 1 for the first time in Sidmouth's history, winning 7 out of their 10 matches and securing pole position ahead of David Lloyd in what was a tense end of season finale.
Equally impressive were Ladies' C, who smashed all the records to take Division 5 by winning all 12 of their matches and only dropping 2 sets throughout their campaign.
Both Ladies' B, playing in Division 2, and Ladies' D in Division 6, were rightly pleased to achieve mid-table placings, with the former having a 50 per cent strike rate against some tough A team opponents.
On the Men's front, the A team narrowly lost out on promotion to Division 2; Men's B came fifth in Division 6 and Men's C, as newcomers this year, gained a creditable 4th in Division 8.
Additionally, both Mixed Teams, playing in the East Devon Tennis League celebrated promotion with Mixed A winning Division 3 by a massive 16 points and Mixed B getting the win in Division 4.
All in all, a fantastic season, which has seen Sidmouth Tennis Club increase its participation in league competitions from 5 to 9 teams and clearly the increase in numbers has also increased the standard of play at all levels.
Everyone at the Club can look back on a great summer with pride and it doesn’t stop there. The Winter Leagues are now underway and with the club sporting a recently installed and much-needed brand new LED lighting system, the future is looking even brighter for Sidmouth Tennis Club.
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