The University of Sheffield made sure of their Varsity comeback after thrashing Sheffield Hallam 6-0 in the Men’s First Team matchups.
The overall scores going into the day stood at 3-2 to Hallam after their dramatic victory pn the Ice Hockey rink to open the show.
With both teams in good form coming into this tie, the quality of tennis on display did not disappoint.
The first matchups of this event were the doubles, and Uni of hit the ground running, winning both ties in straight sets.
Dylan Smith and George Stanton got past some late blunders to hand the first point of the day to Uni of Sheffield, beating Pablo Mills and Alex Partner 6-3 6-4.
Just minutes later Alex Nakov and Seb Morawiecki used some brilliant serving to round out their game against Adam Pyatt Coppell and Matthew Tasker.
Next, the singles games took place, and Uni of continued their dominance, with no signs of slowing down.
Nakov faced off against Partner in the first singles game, and once again Nakov’s brilliant serving, as well as some brilliant defending managed to get him just past Partner, having to take it all the way to the tiebreaker to win 6-2 3-6 (9-7).
The three other singles games all took place at the same time, and with the balcony packed full of cheering fans. Uni of were unstoppable, claiming victory in all three.
Morawiecki and Tasker played out a thrilling, unpredictable tie full of momentum swings. But the powerful shots of Morawiecki managed to get him through and claim the point for University of Sheffield, also using the tiebreaker.
Then, it wouldn’t be a Varsity match without some drama. Pyatt Coppell lost his cool in his straight sets defeat to Stanton, throwing his racket across the court and smashing it against the wall multiple times in a show of frustration.
And finally, arguably the main event, the two top seeds faced off: Mills and Smith, for the final point of the night. But it was Smith who managed to take the game in two close sets and in doing so take all six points in the matchup to clean sweep Hallam.
The results mean the overall Varsity score now stands at 5-3 to University of Sheffield with almost 70 points left up for grabs and a long way to go before we crown the 2024 Sheffield Varsity champions. Next up on the calendar is Rowing, taking place tomorrow.
All image credits: James Lawford