FOUR girls from Wallington High School for Girls competed at the South East regional tennis finals in Welwyn Garden City recently, but narrowly missed out on reaching the national finals, which are to be held this month.
Catherine Rose, Lily Ghodrati, Alice Kirk and Ella Corby had won against Orleans Park of Middlesex in October to reach the last 16 teams in the country, and they were up against three other top teams from independent schools for a place at the National Finals in Bolton, Lancashire.
The girls, who are all in Year 8 at school, took on New Hall, Ipswich and Sevenoaks, and they excelled in the morning tie, winning all four singles and two doubles.
The top pairing of Ghodrati and Rose, along with Kirk and Corby, showed how they deserved their number one seeding as the breezed through to the last eight teams remaining in the competition.
Ghodrati and Rose remained unbeaten in their singles matches throughout the tournament and they overcame a very strong Sevenoaks side, who then went on to win the remaining two singles matches over Kirk and Corby.
It was a nail-biting finish but the more senior and powerful Sevenoaks players managed to dig deep and win the doubles and denied Wallington the chance to compete in Lancashire.
It has been an excellent year for the girls, who won the Surrey Division at the start of the summer and reaching the regional knockout stages of the AEGON School Team Tennis Annual Tournament.
Head of PE at Wallington Girls, Miss Samantha Harris, was extremely impressed with the standard of tennis played by all the girls, and to have reached this stage of the competition for the first time of entering was remarkable.
