Ross Ladies A team, under a beautiful spring sky on Sunday, May 5th, walked towards their new empire, the brand new purple and green of courts one and two, to go to battle against Bromsgrove B team.

Sarah Drake and Jane Pepperell, playing as second pair, started against Bromsgrove’s third pair. After a great start, taking the first set 6:1, the second set turned into a tussle for power, the Ross two worked hard, but lost the second set in the tie break. 

Going into the third set, they were full of hope and drew on all their knowledge and skills to eventually strike back and take the third set 7:6. Moving on to play the opposition’s first pair they got off to a good start by shooting ahead in the first set, although they unfortunately lost it 3:6.

Realising they needed help, their only hope was to force themselves to up their game, increase their energy levels and use their power to get into a winning position by focusing solely on the task in hand, which they did, going onto take the second set in the tie break. With a thrilling third set underway, the crowd was wondering which pairing would be the star of this particular war. With Plan B, to make every point count, working they took the deciding set 7:5.

Sandy Foulkes and Ginny Higgins, playing as third couple, got off to a storming start against Bromsgrove’s second pairing. They threw back a parry of destroyer shots against the second pairing with a vengeance, taking the first set 6:3. They came out strong in the second set, returning serves with power, attacking the short balls and menacing at the net, making short work of the set taking it 6:1.

Their last match, against their own number was a harder contest.

The teams enjoyed a delicious late lunch and a chat in the hut.  An impressive start to the summer season for Ross Ladies A team 6:0.See the full story in this week’s edition of the Ross Gazette, or subscribe to our online edition here