AoC Regional Tournament held at Totally Tennis | 2022

The Association of Colleges (AOC) South East Regional singles competition was played at Totally Tennis’ indoor centre on Thursday 24th November attracting fourteen players from colleges across the region. The annual tournament was run by Queen Mary’s College (QMC) sports teacher and tennis referee Sarah Goldson. The players were representing colleges including Esher, Farnborough, Havant & South Downs (HSDC), Peter Symonds (PS), Richard Collyer, Bexhill and Basingstoke based QMC.

In the semi-finals top seed Owen Martel from (PS) beat fourth seed Callum Lowther from (HSDC) in straight sets 4-0, 4-0. The second match saw an all Peter Symonds battle, with teammates Dan Micklefield (2) beating Ashton Kerslake 4-2, 4-1. QMC was represented by Bobbly Miller and Jude Atfield. Atfield finished third overall in his group of four players that included fourth seed Lowther.

In the final, Martel dominated the match defeating Micklefield 4-0, 4-0. The 3^rd/4^th play off match was won by Kerslake who beat Lowther 4-2, 4-2 securing the top three players who went through to the next stage were all from Peter Symonds College

Goldson said, “It’s my 17^th year running the South East Regional Tennis Competition and it was good to get back to some refereeing duties!” she added, “The singles competition always produces some great tennis and the overall winner, Owen played some very impressive tennis.  As a region, we will be well represented in the finals by the top three players who went through.”

The AoC Sport National Championships will again take place at the University of Nottingham over the weekend of 14th-16th April 2023.

Third place for Isla and the South East team at the AoC Sports National Championships

Totally Tennis coach and performance player Isla Hignett represented Queen Mary’s College (QMC) as part of the South East team at the 42nd annual AoC* Sports National Championships held in Nottingham last weekend.

The Championships, which took place from Friday 22nd – Sunday 24 April, saw the South East tennis team play in Pool B at Nottingham Tennis Centre against teams from London, Eastern, South West and Yorkshire & Humber. The team event consisted of men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles matches.

Alongside Hignett (pictured above 2nd right), the South East tennis squad was made up of players from Peter Symonds College in Winchester including former Totally Tennis club mate Tillie Reid (pictured above 3rd right). Overall the South East team finished in third place with 121 points. The South West team were crowned champions with 140 points and awarded the Wilkinson Sword Trophy. The tennis competition was won by the London team.

Sarah Goldson, QMC PE teacher and tennis team manager, said, “Isla was our sole representative at the AOC National Championships this year, it was great for Tennis and of course Isla herself on the back of securing the QMC Sports Woman of the Year Award.”

She added, “Given the results she secured at the competition she was a major asset to the South East Team and I was so pleased so see her come away with a Bronze Medal.“

The AoC Sports’ National Championships, now in its 42nd year, is the longest running student sport event in the UK. This year over 1,500 talented young sportsmen and women from 91 colleges competed across 13 sports.

*Association of Colleges

Photos used with courtesy of Isla Hignett.

Isla Wins AOC South-East Regional Singles Title 

Isla Hignett represented the Queen Mary’s College (QMC) tennis team, who train at Totally Tennis, in the AOC South East Regional Singles tournament that was played at the indoor centre last week. Both the boys and the girls draws were round robin groups, with the top two players progressing to the semi-finals. There were eleven players competing in the event and six girls.

In the girls’ competition, Hignett, who is also an assistant coach at the club, won through the group stage without dropping a game against players from Farnborough and Peter Symonds Colleges. Hignett was joined by top seed Anna Vinnell from Barton Percival who had also won both her group matches, along with former Totally Tennis team mate Tillie Reid and Issy Tivey. In the semi-final matches, Hignett beat Reid 4-0, 4-1 and Vinnell defeated Tivey 4-0, 4-0.  

In the final, Hignett broke serve early but was then broken back in the next game but that did not diminish her aim to go for every shot. She managed to challenge Vinnell in the rallies and close out points with numerous winning shots and after a great match she won the AOC South-East Regional Girls singles title.

QMC sports teacher and tennis coordinator Sarah Goldson said, “It was an assured and confident performance from Isla which was great to see given her lack of recent match experience.” she added, “A great win for QMC that sees us represented in the tennis competition at next year’s National Finals.” 

In the boy’s competition the matches played out as expected with the four top seeds winning fairly comfortably in the group stage. In Group A, top seed Raffaello Papajcik from Esher College was easily the highest rated player at 1.1. He only needed one win against Thomas Pollard (BHASVIC) as there was a no show in that group.

In Group B, Dan Micklefield from Peter Symonds won the group after beating Edward Rockall 4-1, 4-2 and Matt Tarling 4-0, 4-0. Group C was more closely contested with the initial match in the group being the deciding one. Aaron Butcher from Chichester defeated Kyrill Kennett from Peter Symonds 4-3(1), 0-4, 10-8 and both players beat Dan McTear.

In Group D second seed Barney Brown from Farnborough came through relatively comfortably defeating Leon Gibson 4-0, 4-0 and Billy Moon 4-0, 4-0. In the semi-finals, the matches produced some excellent tennis at this stage of the competition with the top two seeds tested but both came through with the loss of just a few games. In the final, Papajcik eventually got to grips with the powerful serving of Brown and was able to dictate more of the rallies from the baseline eventually winning 4-2, 4-2.   

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Goldson said, “The level of tennis was excellent in this match and was certainly the biggest test for top seed Papajcik. It was an impressive win for Esher College. Sadly, QMC was not represented in the boys’ competition due to an injury to our entrant.” she continued, “It was great to see the competition return after a gap last year and although some of the players said they had not competed very much in the past year, there were some who were definitely back to regular tournament participation.”

AoC Sport, formed following the merger of British Colleges Sport, English Colleges FA and the Association of Colleges sport policy team, is the membership organisation for colleges, leading the development of sport and physical activity in 16+ education. Sport and physical activity are essential components of college life, giving students significant advantages in education, employment and health. The AoC vision is for every college student to participate regularly in sport or physical activity and their purpose is to promote, support and deliver college sport and physical activity.

Another Doubles Title for Isla and Tillie

Performance player Isla Hignett and Tillie Reid won the 18 and under Girls Doubles title at the White Horse Indoor Junior Winter Tennis Tournament held in Oxford.

In the round robin event the pair beat  Lola-Juliet Omran and Youka Togashi 4-1, 4-3(3) and Kirsty Da Silva and Darcy Herring Johnson 4-1, 4-1 to win the event.

The girls will return to the White Horse Leisure & Tennis Centre in the New Year to compete in the 18 and under Girls Singles on the 4th January where Hignett is second seed and Reid is fourth.

Congratulations girls and good luck in the singles event next month.

TT Tour 2019

The first TT Tour for Red and Orange players took place last weekend at the indoor centre. The event, run by coach Loic Armstrong and assistant coach Andrew Dingwall, gave junior players a taste of competition. On this occasion the Red tournament was won by Shrihan Chakraborty. He defeated Shrayan Subash 10-8, Anvi Arora 10 – 6 and Shauna Rana 10-3 to claim overall victory. Subash was runner-up after beating Arora 10-7 and Rana 10-5. Arora finished in third place and Rana was fourth.

In the Orange event,  Ayush Thondapu was crowned the winner and Archie Taylor finished in second place. Thondapu beat Taylor 16-14, Harry Parton 10-1, Jasmine Paul 10-2, and Jessica Parton 10-2. Taylor defeated both the Parton siblings 10-0 and Paul 10-2. There was a three way tie for third place between the remaining players.

The TT Tour is a competition programme for Totally Tennis junior players with several tournaments held throughout the year. The next event will be the Green & Yellow tournaments on Saturday 5th October – see schedule below for full list of dates. An up-to-date leaderboard will show each player’s rankings in each group. Points are awarded to the winner, runner-up and third/fourth place players for each event as well as additional points for entering.

Date	Tournament	Ball Colour	Time
Saturday 21st September	US Open	Red & Orange	1pm – 3pm
Saturday 5th October	US Open	Green & Yellow	1pm – 3pm
Saturday 26th October	Halloween Tour	Red & Orange	1pm – 3pm
Sunday 27th October	Halloween Tour	Green & Yellow	1pm – 3pm
Saturday 23rd November	World Tour Finals	Red & Orange	1pm – 3pm
Sunday 24th November	World Tour Finals	Green & Yellow	1pm – 3pm
Saturday 14th December	Christmas Tour	Red & Orange	1pm – 3pm
Sunday 15th December	Christmas Tour	Green & Yellow	1pm – 3pm

RED (Pirates, Indians, Red Squad) and ORANGE (Dodgers and Orange Squad)

GREEN (Giants and Green Squad) and YELLOW (A,B,C and Performance Squads)

 

PLAYERS MUST BOOK IN BEFORE THE EVENT. There must be a minimum of 4 players per age group for each tournament to be played. Each event costs £6.50 per player. All players interested in participating can book in reception or call the office on 01256 358816.

Aaron Dawson crowned 16 & U County Champion

Keeping up Totally Tennis’ record of consecutive County Champions for over twenty five years, performance player Aaron Dawson was crowned the 16 & under Boys Singles champion at last weeks annual Hampshire & IOW County Championships 2019 held at Winchester Racquets & Fitness club. Overall the club had five winners and six runners-ups across all the age groups.

After a bye in the first round top seed Dawson beat Oliver Hopper 6-0, 6-1 in round two and then defeated eighth seed Matthew Dillon 6-4, 6-1 in the quarters followed by third seed Aaron Butcher 6-2, 6-1 in the semis. In the final Dawson beat fourth seed Jed Voysey 6-3, 6-3 to win the title. Club mate Harry Feast also competed beating William Dyer 6-0, 6-0 in the first round but lost out in round two against Butcher  5-7,6-3, 1-0(8). 

Dawson also won the 16 & under Doubles title with partner Jack Curtis.  In the quarters the top seeds beat Voysey and partner Egan Daborn 4-1, 4-1, Sam Ardley and Freddie Swain in the semis 4-0, 4-0 and second seeds Butcher and Owen Martel in the final  1-4, 4-0, 1-0(4). Fellow performance player and coach Liam Hignett won the Men’s Doubles title with partner Ryan Golesworthy defeating William Coward and David Darrock in the semis 4-0, 4-1 and second seeds James Blair and Mats Colling in the final 4-2, 4-1.

Younger sister Isla Hignett and partner Tillie Reid won the 16 and under Girls Doubles title beating Scarlett Doman and Poppy Marston 4-1, 4-0 and Charlotte & Evangeline Howard 4-2, 4-1. Isla also won the 18 & under Mixed Doubles with partner Chris Adeshina after beating Aaron Butcher and Martyna Ciubatiuk 4-2, 4-1 and Feast and Reid 4-0, 4-0. Hignett.

Mini performance player Hayden Cummings finished in the runner-up spot in the 10 and under Boys Singles after a three set battle in the final against Tuna Lokman 2-4, 4-1, 10-1. Following a bye in the first round Cummings beat Cameron Jeffries Keel 4-2, 5-3 in the quarters and Xinghan Zhao in the semis 4-0, 4-2. Clubmate Harry Dolman was knocked out in the first round against Felix Inglis 4-0, 4-1. In the 12 and under Boys Singles, Cummings beat Zhao in the first round before losing in round two to top seed Sam Cawood 6-1, 6-1.

In the 10 & under Mixed Doubles Cummings and Lokman were runners-up and Dolman and partner Cameron Jeffries Keel finished in  fourth place. Dolman was runner-up in the 9 & under Mixed Doubles with partner Riley Webb. Dolman finished third in the 9 and under singles after beating Zachary Kleiner in the second round 7-4, 7-1, Cameron Jeffries Keel in the quarters 7-5, 7-5 but then lost in the semis against Percy Weston 7-2, 3-7, 7-4. 

In the 14 & under Girls Singles third seed Kirsty Da Silva was runner-up defeating Camille Phillips in the first round 6-2, 6-4 and Katie Hart in the quarters 6-0, 6-1 and top seed Ivana Maynard in the semis 2-6, 6-4, 1-0(5). In the final Da Silva lost against second seed Scarlett Doman 6-1, 6-3. In the 14 & under Girls Doubles second seeds Da Silva and partner Ivana Maynard were runners up after beating Harriet Burley and Holly Cann 4-0, 4-0 but lost to top seeds Sienna Boyce and Ciubatiuk in the three set final 1-4, 4-2, 1-0(4). Da Silva was also runner-up in the 14 & under Mixed Doubles with partner Joshua Furneaux.

Reid, Da Silva and Isla Hignett all competed in the 16 and under Girls Singles. After a bye in the first round, second seed Hignett beat Scarlett Doman 6-1, 6-1 in the quarters but lost to third seed  Ciubatiuk in the semis 6-3, 6-3. Both fourth seed Reid and Da Silva lost in the first round to Mia Gerty 6-2, 6-1 and Sienna Boyce 7-5, 6-4 respectively. Isla also competed in the Open Womens Singles losing in the first round to second seed Freya Davies 6-2, 6-1. In the Womens Doubles, Hignett and partner Magda Kornijczuk went out in the semi final stages against second seeds Natalie Sayer and Summer Colling 1-4, 4-2, 1-0(3). 

In the 18 & under Boys singles Feast defeated William Woolnough in the first round 6-2, 6-1 before losing against top seed and former Totally Tennis player Golesworthy in round two 6-0, 6-0. Fourth seed Dawson beat Sam Morgan 6-0, 6-0 in round two and seventh seed Milan Bharadia 6-3, 6-2 but lost in the semis to Golesworthy 6-0, 6-1. In the 18 and under Boys Doubles Dawson and partner Jack Curtis beat George Copplestone and Franko Stoman in the quarters 4-1, 4-0 but lost to top seeds Golesworthy and his partner William Jones in the semis 4-1, 4-0.

Congratulations to all the winners, runners-ups and everyone that entered this years County Championships 🙂

 

Share of the prize money for Hignett in Sutton

Totally Tennis performance player and coach Liam Hignett competed in the LTA British Tour Sutton in the Open Mens Singles and Doubles events at Sutton Tennis & Squash Club last week.

In the opening round of the singles Hignett beat ninth seed Tom Hands 2-6, 7-5, 10-5 and then defeated Oscar Glenister in their second round match 7-5, 6-2. He was then beaten in the quarters by second seed and eventual runner-up Alexis Canter 6-4, 6-1.

It was a similar story in the the doubles where Hignett teamed up with fellow Hampshire teammate Austin Gwilliam to beat Glenister and his partner Oliver Matthews 7-5, 6-0 in the first round before losing in the quarters to fourth seeds Sean Hodkin and Millen Hurrion 6-2, 4-6, 10-2 .

Hignett said, “The Sutton tournament is a premier tier British Tour event and the biggest of the year so offers the best prize money. I was very happy to get to the quarters in both singles and doubles.”

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) British Tour 2019* provides a circuit of tournaments designed to give up and coming players the opportunity to gain experience in their quest to become professional tennis players, to provide competition for professional players in between competing in professional events at home and abroad, as well as providing a national level open competition circuit.

This week Hignett will be competing in the British Tour in Cumberland followed by the Roehampton event early next month. Read more about Hignett’s previous British Tour events HERE

*British Tour information used with courtesy of www.lta.org.uk/britishtour

 

Winchester Doubles Title for Liam

Performance player and coach Liam Hignett won the Open Mens Doubles title at the Winchester MANTIS Open 2019 with partner William Coward earlier this week.

In the event held at the Winchester Racquets and Fitness the pair, who were top seeds, had a bye in the quarters top seeds and then beat William Farnfield and William Jones 6-2, 6-0 in the semi finals. In the finals Hignett and Coward defeated Andrew Gorvin and Dominic Pearson 3-6, 7-6(6), 1-0(6) to win the title.

Congratulations Liam and William.

Summer Titles for Isla and Tillie

Totally Tennis performance players Isla Hignett and Tillie Reid won the 16 & under Girls Doubles title at the 92nd Woking Open held at Woking Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.

After a bye in round one, the girls, who were top seeds, beat  Ellen Alliston and Allegra Hodson in the quarters 4-1, 4-0 followed by third seeds Rebecca Fisher and Daniella Scotland in the semis 6-4, 6-3. In the final they defeated Sofia Maine and Sienna Rolland from The Bourne Club 6-0, 6-3 to win the title.

It was a double celebration for Hignett who also won the 16 & under girls singles title beating eighth seed Hodson in the final 6-4, 6-0 to win her second trophy of the tournament. A first round bye top seed Hignett defeated Sofia Maine  6-4, 6-2 in round two, Raga Ram in the quarters 4-0, 4-2 and sixth seed Anya Hamilton in the semis 4-1, 4-2.  Third seed Reid also had a bye in the first round and then beat Isabella Calvert 6-3, 6-3 in  round two but was then knocked out of the competition by Hamilton in a three set quarter final match 2-4, 5-4(5), 1-0(6).

In the 18 & under Girls Singles competition Hignett beat Rebecca Scofield 6-3, 6-0 in the quarters but was then knocked out in the semis by second seed and eventual winner Jorja Reynolds 6-4, 6-1. Reynolds, who plays at Manor Park Tennis Centre, also defeated Reid in the quarters 6-0, 6-2. 

Well done girls!

More Titles for Cummings

Totally Tennis mini performance player Hayden Cummings and partner Tuna Lokman from Portsmouth won the  10 & under Boys Doubles title at the 22nd TeamBath CoMpete G2 Tennis Festival 2019.

The Grade 2 event was held last weekend at the University of Bath and after a bye in the first round, top seeds Cummings and Lokman beat Evan Lendrum and Takunda Muzvarwi 4-1, 4-1 in the quarters. In the final the Hampshire pair defeated Daniel Joita and Conrad Plum 1-4, 5-3, 10-6 to win the title.

Cummings also competed in the 10 & under Boys singles event where he finished in seventh place. In the group stages he beat Niall Pickerd-Barua 4-0, 4-0 but lost against Group winner Pavana Nrshinga 4-0, 4-1. He progressed to the main draw where he won his first round match against Daniel Joita 4-2, 4-2 but then lost in the quarters to Rocco Richardson 4-1, 4-1. He then competed in some extra ratings matches beating Kaaviyan Pradhaban 4-2, 4-1 and losing to Tommy Cuomo in three sets 2-4, 5-3, 10-4.

Cummings also played in the 10 and under Boys Singles at the Windsor Open held last week at Windsor Lawn Tennis Club. He won Group A beating Adhrit Rajagopalan 4-0, Harry Cartledge 4-0 and Joseph Gibbard 4-1. In the main draw he defeated Zak Bergandy 4-1 in the quarters, Finlay Plummer 4-0 in the semis but lost in the final against Castor Chute 4-2 to finish in the runner-up spot.