Under-18s' double for Guernsey teams

GUERNSEY took the honours in both the boys' and girls' competitions of the annual under-18 inter-insular. The home side fielded teams that looked stronger on paper when they entertained Jersey at St Martin's Tennis Club, but they can still be pleased with the level of success achieved on court.

The Sarnian boys lost just one of their 15 matches, with the numbers one and two - Rob West and Patrick Ogier - both recording a convincing win over the Jersey number one, Richard Brocken, who might have been expected to provide tougher opposition.

Meanwhile, Arrian Green dropped only one game in his two singles matches.

The girls were more evenly matched with matches at the top and bottom sections of the teams even following the longest encounter of the day - a third-set 9-7 tie-break win by Carly Tucknott over Kelly Goncalves.

However, the Sarnian mid-order - Elena Johnson and Stephanie Connolly - won all their matches comfortably to enable the Guernsey girls to win 10-5.

Unfortunately, Guernsey's success was not repeated in the under-14 inter-insular held at Les Ormes Tennis Club in Jersey although it proved to be a good experience for some new recruits to the Guernsey team.

The girls fared better than the boys and lost only 7-5. Number one Heather Watson won both of her singles contests and there were also good wins for Catriona Rizzuto, Kiara Green and Olivia Cooney.

The boys were defeated 9-2, with a win apiece for number one Stefano Rizzuto and debutant Chris Paluch, leaving the overall result at 16-7. David Pickford was unlucky to lose both his singles matches on third set tie-breaks.

Guernsey might have had a better result had some notable absentees been present.