Tennis aces serve up historic Brentwood School win

Brentwood School had a fantastic few days at Eton College competing in the Independent Schools Tennis Championships winning the first National Independent School title in the School’s history.

Brentwood's inaugural title was won by Edie Griffiths and Daisy Edwards, both in Year 8, who took the U13 Ralph Cake Trophy following a confident and determined performance on the hallowed courts of the Berkshire school.

The girls started strongly to progress through Monday’s group stages with wins against Hymers College, Colston's School, Kingston Grammar School and Lady Eleanor Holles to advance into the main draw. The team grew stronger as the tournament progressed, with good wins against Wimbledon High, Queen Anne's and Sevenoaks to advance through to the final.

The championships, organised by the Independent Schools' Tennis Association (ISTA), are held at the end of each summer term and are open to all independent schools in the United Kingdom. The event, which has been running since 1947, brings together some 75 schools from across the country in a fabulous "festival" of tennis.

It was a remarkable performance from both Edie and Daisy in the final to beat an incredibly strong partnership from Queenswood School. With numerous games being decided by a sudden-death deuce point and momentum swinging throughout the match, Daisy and Edie showed great resilience and determination to come back from 5-2 down in the set, to take the match into a tie-break with the scores level at 6-6. The standard was outstanding and all four girls played extremely well throughout the whole match. Brentwood saved two match points in the deciding tie-break, before seizing their opportunity to win 9-7 after a gruelling rally exchange.

Mr Simpson-Crick, Head of Brentwood School's Tennis Academy, said: "We are all so proud of the girls who have both worked hard this year to achieve this result. The level of tennis was of the highest standard in this final, which could have gone either way, but was ultimately decided by just a few key points and determination to succeed in the end. Daisy and Edie's desire to win, teamwork and resilience was truly admirable and will serve them well moving forward in their sporting careers."