Women’s tennis team through to BUCS final

The result, the first time the side has ever reached the final, was no mean feat as Sports Scholars Yvanna Kurlak and Kate Lucy alongside Annie Nebojanko, Adelina Lipan and Emily Wicks, played one of the strongest sides in University tennis.

The University of Exeter went 1-0 down early on after Kate and Emily lost the opening doubles match, before Adelina and Annie quickly pulled the scores level in the second.

Yvanna just missed out on an incredibly tight third match losing 6:4, 6:4 with Kate beginning an afternoon of outstanding tennis, coasting to victory in match four.

Despite a strong comeback Annie lost 6:0, 6:4 in the fifth match, with Adelina taking a convincing victory 6:2, 6:1 to bring the scores to 6 points apiece at the end of play, forcing a tense 10 point tie-break to ensue.

Team captain Yvanna Kurlak said: “We knew going into the match that it would be tough as they had won the Northern League and had an extremely solid team. However, the University of Exeter girls dug deep and we managed to win two singles and a doubles to take us into a Tie-break shootout situation.

At this point anyone could have won it. Adelina Lipan put in a gutsy performance against a higher ranked girl to give us a 1-0 lead which then spurred Kate Lucy on to produce even more outstanding tennis [winning 10-8 and giving the University of Exeter overall victory]. Despite starting at 12:30 and not finishing till 19:00 it was an unbelievable day and a fantastic achievement for the team.”

Head of student tennis Steve Wood was delighted with the result which will see the University of Exeter face league winners Bath at Leeds Met on the 20 March.

He commented “It was an incredibly tense match but a fantastic result for the whole team. We are incredibly pleased to have got this far but have a tough match ahead of us for must remain focused. I am looking forward to the final and am confident that if we work hard we can bring home the league for the first time.”