Melton Tennis Club Ladies leave it very late to secure safety
Melton Mowbray Tennis Club’s Ladies second team pulled off a rescue act when they left it to their final match of the their Winter League season to pull off a win and guarantee keeping their place in Division 1B for 2025/26.
With visitors David Lloyd 1 having been unable to field a team previously plus a rain cancellation on another occasion the visitors still had problems and arrived with just one pairing.
When the match finally got underway on a wet and breezy morning number two pairing of Jess Simpkin and Danielle Wells were soon into their stride and collected two sets very quickly with a 6-1 7-6 scoreline.
First pairing of Sarah Rowe and Laura Cooper then went on and were in commanding form against the opposition youngsters and ran out easy winners with a 6-0, 6-0 score to give the club an emphatic 8-0 win and safety.
The team had got off to a poor start to their season with illness, injuries and unavailability taking an early toll and their first match saw them go down 5-3 to Rothley first team.
An 8-0 reverse at near neighbours Syston 1 followed before the team travelled to Lutterworth 2 and returned with a 6-2 win.
Another 5-3 home defeat by Leicestershire B followed and then a 4-4 draw with neighbours Hamilton 1 was followed by a disastrous 8-0 loss at a strong Oadby Granville 1 team.
This left the Ladies needing to secure at least two rubbers in their last match which they were able to collect in convincing fashion.
Skipper Carol Gilchrist was delighted and relieved with the team's final result and is already looking ahead to the Summer period, which will get underway in April, but is obviously hoping for a little more success from her team and not so much last gasp tension.