Grammar team set for Qld tennis titles
‘‘ WE LEARNT A LOT FROM OUR GPS SEASON AGAINST THE TOUGH BRISBANE SCHOOLS. JAMES BILBROUGH
Photo: GLEN McCULLOUGH
TENNIS: Five Toowoomba Grammar School students will team up in Rockhampton next week to contest the 2019 Queensland School Tennis Championships.
The two-day tournament, featuring singles and doubles play, will be held on September 19 and 20.
Year 12 students James Bilbrough and Nick Elliott, Year 11 student Hunter Austin and Year 10 student Aaron Palmer won through to the state titles after their success at the Queensland Schools Darling Downs Championships earlier this month.
The school’s Darling Downs victory, where it downed the TGS B team in the grand final, was its 16th in succession.
B team member Mitchell Dight (Year 11) is the team reserve for Rockhampton.
The squad will be under the care of TGS director of tennis Gavin Wright.
Team captain James Bilbrough said TGS would be calling on its experience in this year’s GPS competition to help match it with the tough championship opposition.
“It was very pleasing to win the regional finals for a 16th year in a row against some good all-round competition including our B team who we beat in the final,” Bilbrough said.
“Now we come up against schools from all over Queensland that have won their playoff pools.
“This is my third year at the state championships and Hunter’s second. It’s the first time for the other boys.
“We finished first of the country schools a couple of years ago at states and that will be a goal again this year.
“The winner of the tournament progresses to the national finals and hopefully we can progress to the final in Rockhampton.
“We learnt a lot from our GPS season against the tough Brisbane schools and hopefully that will work in our favour at Rockhampton.
“It’s going to be a hard tournament but we are confident of performing well.
“The Brisbane schools are definitely the ones to beat.”