Cheam High School’s girls tennis team made it through to the finals of the AEGON Team Tennis National Schools Championships on Wednesday following victory against Coopers Company & Coborn school from Upminster that has seen them reach the prestigious final for the third time in a row.
The tournament, at Queenswood School in Hatfield, invites 32 schools from across the country who have progressed through local and regional rounds to make the finals which take place over four days.
Having seen off stiff competition from Nottingham’s Trent College and Huddersfield’s Greenhead College from the first couple of days, top seeds Cheam will now take on hosts Queenswood School in Thursday’s final to contest the Aberdare Cup that the school has won on three previous occasions.
“The girls have done a great job, I’m really proud of them,” said Tim Webster, Cheam’s Tennis Scholarship Head Coach.
“They showed great team spirit and they’ve come together really well. We’ve had some good wins so far and I’m sure we can move on nicely in to the final tomorrow.”
The team, made up of Ruth Seabourne, Eleanor Linsell, Cara Gilham and Emily Napier can now look forward to tomorrow’s battle against unseeded Queenswood in what promises to be a very tightly contested match.
“I’m looking forwards to tomorrow’s match,” said Cheam’s star player Ruth Seaborne.
“So far so good but it means so much to everybody to win this tournament that every player gives their all and so even though we are the top seeds you can never take anything for granted.
"We’ll just go out there, give it our best and hopefully pull out another win.”
The tournament which has been going since 1949 attracts the best of the best scholar athletes and Cheam’s team is no exception.
“The girls are all very strong players and because of that I know the girls are capable of winning,” said Webster.
“We’ve got good depth. Our number one Ruth who is the youngest plays to international standard and some of the other girls are competing on the British Tour.
"They’ve got a title to regain and I know they all want to do that, especially as there are a bus load of supporters coming up to support the girls.”
Hopefully those supporters won’t have to endure the poor weather which hampered the first few days of play, but according to the tournament director, everything is set for a great final.
“The whole tournament has been a huge success and the level of tennis we have seen over the past week has been tremendous,” said George Donnelly.
“Conditions have been tough at times with the weather, but Cheam have coped well and clearly deserve their place in the final.”
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