St Anne's Diocesan College hosted the annual Invitational Doubles Tennis Tournament over the September holidays. Once again, the Hilton College / St Anne's tournament saw 16 teams participating in a series of girls, boys and mixed doubles matches, with matches being played at the joint host schools courts. The schools invited were, as they are every year, from around the country: Clifton College (KZN); St Mary's Kloof (KZN); Durban High School (KZN); Roedean School (Gaut); Somerset College (WP); Somerset College (WP); St Alban's College (Gauteng); St Mary's Pretoria (Gauteng);
Kingswood College (EP); Kingswood College (EP); St Stithians College (Gaut) St Mary's Waverley (Gaut);
Penryn College (Mpum); Penryn College (Mpum); Hilton College (KZN) and St Anne's College (KZN).
For those unfamiliar with the format, boys and girls teams are partnered and then compete in a boys doubles championships, girls doubles championships and then in a mixed doubles championship.
Although the emphasis is clearly on the tennis, this tournament affords the players an opportunity to socialise with players from all over the country as they are all accommodated at the boarding establishments at Hilton College. The tournament is characterised by great sportsmanship and camaraderie and the players all have a lot of fun. For many schools there is little other opportunity for them to play mixed doubles and so this element of competition is embraced enthusiastically in the tournament. This year's mixed doubles championship was fought over by St Stithians and St Mary's Waverley and Clifton College and St Mary's Kloof, with St Stithians and St Mary's Waverley taking the trophy. Hosts Hilton College and St Anne's College played against St Alban's and St Mary's Pretoria for second and third place, with Hilton and St Anne's proving too strong for their Gauteng opponents.
The girls doubles championship was taken by a solid St Anne's team up against a very committed, but somewhat depleted, St Mary's Pretoria squad. The outcome was concluded by a 9/0 margin, although the score did not reflect the hard-fought matches. St Stithians College defeated Clifton College to claim the boys doubles championship.
Results are as follows:
Boys' Doubles:
1st: St Stithians College
2nd: Clifton College
3rd: Hilton College
4th: Kingswood College
5th: Somerset College
6th: St Alban's College
7th: Durban High School
8th: Penryn College
Girls' Doubles:
1st: St Anne's College
2nd: St Mary's DSG (Pretoria)
3rd: St Mary's Waverley
4th: St Mary's Kloof
5th: Somerset College
6th: Roedean School
7th: Kingswood College
8th: Penryn College
Mixed Doubles:
1st: St Stithians College/St Mary's Waverley
2nd: Clifton College/St Mary's Kloof
3rd: Hilton College/St Anne's College
4th: St Alban's/St Mary's DSG (Pretoria)
5th: Somerset College
6th: Durban High School/Roedean School
7th: Kingswood College
8th: Penryn College
It is always a pleasure to host this competition with its wonderful ethos of friendliness and goodwill and the host schools look forward to welcoming the teams back for the tournament in 2014.
Pictured above are St Anne's and Hilton College team captain: Christie Bradford and J.O. de Villiers.
Pictured below is the St Anne's Tennis Team.
News and photographs supplied by St Anne's.