With Uni of going into the Easter break 3-2 down in the overall Varsity scoring, they needed a strong start to get back on track and they showed that by beating Hallam 4-2 in the early stages of the day.
Despite the wet and windy conditions, the players were still able to put on a show, in what would have been a tough and arduous day for them. The Hallam men’s 2nd team will be disappointed that they came away with an identical loss to last year; after losing all three tennis points up for grabs last year, they would’ve looked at the event as a way to build their lead in the overall scoring.
For a day fraught with difficult weather, there was still a fairly decent audience, with some staying the whole day to watch their universities battle it out in both the men’s 2nd and 3rd teams on the outdoor courts.
One player that stood out was Uni of’s Dylan Pillinger, who won his singles game 2 sets to 0 and showcased some amazing returns to frustrate his opponent which certainly would’ve left him both bewildered and amazed. With his match against Hallam’s Luke Davidson being the most attentively watched throughout the afternoon, the UoS prodigy didn’t cave under the eyes of the crowd, with a performance Roger Federer would’ve been proud of.
The day at Hallamshire Tennis & Squash Club signalled the start of a very busy Varsity schedule over the next 10 days with the next event being today’s rowing tournament. After potentially hearing about the Men’s 2nd team’s 4-2 defeat, the Hallam rowers could be feeling more pressure than expected to get their Uni back into the lead going into the penultimate week of the competition.
Featured Image Credit: James Lawford