Reed’s School boys and Cheam High School girls won the AEGON Team Tennis Schools national titles at Queenswood on Thursday.
Reed’s and Cheam High have now won the prestigious Glanvill and Aberdare Cups for three consecutive years.
The competition started in April with 440 teams competing in the first round and just 32 teams progressing to this week’s national finals, 16 each in the boys’ and girls’ events.
Reed’s, whose strength in depth saw them represented by two boys’ teams, eased into the final where they defeated Millfield in a deciding tie-break shoot-out.
Having raced into a 3-1 lead after the four singles rubbers, Reed’s were pegged back by Millfield in the doubles before eventually winning 10-7 in the crucial doubles match tie-break.
“We were confident coming into this tournament having won for the last two years on the boy's side,” said Adrian Blackman, Head of Tennis at Reed’s. “We have good depth but it was challenging today against a very competitive Millfield side and the final match was always very much in the balance.”
Having won the title for the last two years, Blackman knew the importance of having an experienced line-up. “Three of this year's team won last year so there was a lot of experience out there and you could see when we won the last point in the deciding tie-break how much it meant to the team.
“We won the World Schools tournament earlier this year in Belgium so to win here as well is fantastic. All the players have been training hard for this and they deserve to be lifting the trophy.”
Cheam High did not need a tie-break shoot out to secure victory as they defeated Queenswood, the home team, 8-4 to clinch their hat trick of titles.
“The girls have done a great job to win the Aberdare Cup,” said Tim Webster, Head Coach at Cheam High. “I'm really proud of them. They're a great team with a great team spirit and they've come together really well.
“We've had some really good wins and I know they were all desperate to re-gain the title the girls have won the last couple of years. They played well, fought hard and they finally got the result they deserved.”