MCS Mens A vs Whitecross B (21/12)  - WIN, 8 points
Christmas only days away, a trip to White Cross resulted in “Christmas cheer” for the father and son pairings of Steve / Luke Meredith and Miles/Emil Meager. A force 9 gale hampered the match, but a 3/1 victory maintains our winning start to the winter season. Steve/ Luke were unbeaten with Miles / Emil narrowly losing to the white cross first pair! A greater test awaits us on 7th January when we come up against the strongest team in the division, Boughton A with their smattering of highly-ranked students! It may be a sobering new year for Men’s A.

MCS Mens A vs Boughton B (17/12)  - WIN, 10 points

This was the opening game of our winter campaign. On a grey but dry winter's afternoon, a comprehensive 4/0 Victory was registered. The team Luke & Steve Meredith (no.1), and James Burton /Miles Meager (no.2) each won all rubbers in straight sets and relinquished only 9 games apiece! Truly a team effort! Our next match is 21 December away to WHX B, a far more daunting outing! I have asked Santa for a result which I believe he is checking twice!!!

Mixed B vs Ross A (16/12) - LOSS, 0 points

A calm and very sunny day at MCS saw our teams battle valiantly against a well-oiled Ross team. Bella and Miles had two very good matches, with a keenly contested championship tie break going the way of Ross in their second match. Emil played brilliantly and Sheila tried to play her normal game but just couldn’t get going, and the overall result was a disappointing  nul point for MCS. All played in a nice spirit, and Bella’s excellent mince pies and Miles fruit basket were much appreciated at the end!  Thanks so much to everyone who’s played or spectated or contributed in any way this season so far.

Mixed B vs Hallow C (10/12) - LOSS, X points

Would we? Wouldn’t we?  Should we? Shouldn’t we? Well we did go ahead despite torrential rain in the morning …and a well deserved and hard fought 8-2 win for MCS resulted! Players were Helen and James B,Sheila and James P.  Helen and James B won both their matches, with exciting championship tie breaks being the deciding factor in each case. Sheila and James had a good win against the no 2 couple, but couldn’t quite get the rub of play against the number 1 couple. Some great play though, and although we did have to shelter inside briefly when a downpour happened, we were mostly playing in good conditions with blue sky and sunshine.  A good afternoon, thank you to all the players.

Mixed A vs Hallow A (10/12) - LOSS, X points

After the downpours on Sunday morning (as forecast) the weather dried up & the sun came out (also as forecast) & Hallow A were happy to come over to play our match.  4 youngsters made up the 2 first couples with Leila & Ben for MCS & Hallow’s coach, Scott, & another lovely young player, Holly. Their 2nd couple were also on the young side but Miles & Ali bucked the trend…say no more!  The Hallow first couple were too strong for both MCS pairs but Leila & Ben played fabulously to get a win against their 2nd pair. Miles & Ali led in both sets but couldn’t quite close out the win against Hallow’s No2 pair.  Homemade cake, beautifully decorated in a Christmas theme by Leila, completely stole the show at post match teatime. Hallow are a friendly team to play against & it was an enjoyable afternoon. Added bonus was their coach, Scott, being incredibly complimentary about Leila’s tennis…& deservedly so. Peter & Duncan also deserve a mention for supporting us. 

Ladies A vs Ledbury A (26/11) - LOSS, 2 points

Our match was much anticipated as we knew they had a very good 1st couple: up first against them were Leila and Jackie easing through the first set 7-6, being confounded in the second set, and having to play a championship tiebreaker. Sadly, they couldn’t quite take it although it was very close. 1-0 to Ledbury. Meanwhile, our 2nd couple, Ali and Helen, got to grips with some dastardly cross-court spin and beat their 2nd couple. All equal at half-time 1-1. Their 1st couple looked scarily confident through the thick fog which had come down making it hard to see the other end of the court. Biff, bash… we were quickly 5-0 down wondering if we’d actually won any points at all! We scrabbled around and dug out 2 games, which may have put them off a bit as the second set “fell” into our laps, 6-4. Uh oh, another championship tiebreaker… we zoomed into a 6-1 lead, our cheerleaders were doing cartwheels (or rather, clapping enthusiastically), but somehow they came back to win it 10-8. Meanwhile, their 2nd couple sliced away the challenge from Leila & Jackie and we ended the match 2-8.

Ladies B vs Goodrich D (25/11) - EVEN DRAW, 5 points

A beautiful autumn day, the Hills looked glorious and the autumnal colours on the trees around the ground were indeed a picture to behold. Goodrich proved a tricky team. Some very good rallies were exchanged and it's fair to say the sun won a fair few points against both teams! A very strange final result too, an identical number of rubbers, sets AND games. So points are shared equally.  Thanks to Sheila Bella, Kim and Sue A for playing, and Sheila for her delicious chocolate cake! 

Mixed B vs Manor Park E (19/11) - WIN, 4 points

A thrilling afternoon of tennis down at MCS! Jackie, James B, Peter and Helen battled in grey and, at times, wet conditions. The end result was two rubbers each, with both MCS pairs winning championship tiebreaks against their first couple. After some terrific play and amazing rallies, the end result overall was a losing draw, and a very creditable and entertaining one it was. Message from Nick, Manor Park captain, “Thank you for your kind hospitality and enjoyable tennis.”  

Ladies B vs Eardisley (18/11) - WIN, 10 points

After the disappointment of rain preventing play for the Ladies B’s first match last week, conditions were close to perfect for the match against Eardisley. It was a closely fought battle with some long rallies and great winning shots from both sides. Well done to Kim and Bella for keeping their cool and acting with compassion when the match point in the championship tiebreak was delayed due to a medical issue for the opposition. A great start to the winter season – next week: Goodrich D!