University tennis aces are a class act
Men’s team put on a great show to lift BUCS title
Stirling University’s high performance tennis players received top marks at this year’s BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) National League Super Weekend.
The men’s team - Scott Duncan, Robert Leck, Kieran Macarty, Scott Macaulay, Sam McNeil and Jonny O’Mara held their nerve to secure the National League title for the first time since 2014, defeating Durham University (8-4) and Loughborough University (12-0) which saw them pip their Durham counterparts by one point in the overall standings.
In the women’s competition, Natasha Fourouclas, Lauren Hewett, Maia Lumsden, Alessia Palmieri, Rebecca Pedrazzi and Patricia Skowronski fell short in their title challenge push despite a comfortable 10-2 victory over Bristol on Saturday.
An earlier victory for top-ofthe-table rivals Durham meant the league was secured by the North East institution with two rounds to spare.
The Stirling and Durham teams, however, went on to play out an entertaining 6-6 draw to round-off the weekend’s action.
Both teams will be rewarded with home ties in the BUCS Championship knockout competition which starts next month.
Scott Duncan said: “It was a great way to end the league in an exciting environment and everyone did their part to help us get over the line.
“It makes all the hard work during the year worth it.
“But we’re not taking anything for granted as we want to do well in the BUCS Championship as well.
“We always set high expectations for ourselves and that won’t change as we want to finish the BUCS season on a high and we look forward to getting back out on court to represent Stirling.”
High Performance Tennis Coach Euan McGinn was delighted with the result for his players and added: “It has been such a fantastic experience for the players over the weekend and we are really proud of how they held their nerve in a high pressure situation.
“All of our scholars and the wider high performance squad train immensely hard throughout the season and still manage to fit their studies in, so I am really delighted that their dedication, organisation and sacrifice has been rewarded with two brilliant league finishes.”