BROMSGROVE Tennis Club’s Men’s B team finished runners-up in the Winter League Division Three after a defeat to leaders David Lloyd Worcester.

The match started well as Steve Jones and Ollie Stratford won their opening rubber.

However, after that David Lloyd showed why they were at the top.

Ash Rutter with Phil Boardman were just edged out in a close three-set battle and then both pairs lost their final contests as Bromsgrove went down 3-1.

However, the points gained lifted them into the runners-up spot.

Captain Jones said: “We knew it was a big ask to beat Worcester David Lloyd 4-0, but we weren’t far off.

“Taking the runners-up spot is some consolation for what’s been a good winter for Bromsgrove.”

With both the Ladies D and E teams in Division Seven this summer their season kicked off playing each other.

The places in these teams were closely contested so there was a lot of pride at stake in the encounter.

Heroes of the day were the E team first pair of Yvonne Priestman with Alison Douglas, who won both their rubbers in two sets to lead the E team to a narrow victory.

They were supported by Naomi Moore with Sue Corfield who battled hard in two long three-set matches for a win and a loss.

Third pair of Claire Hancock with Claire Andrews showed how small the margin between the teams is as, despite losing both rubbers, they pushed their opposite pair all the way in a close three-set battle.

For the D team each pair of Ros Cooke with Lesley Hodson, Jenny Buckley with Jane Corbett and Carol Cornellisen with Annabel Whitmore won one rubber.

This left the score at 3-3 but the E team took the winning bonus points as they won 8-7.

Priestman said: “We’re really happy to have pulled off the win.

“Our D team is going to be one of the strongest teams in the division and this shows we can live with the best and we’re really looking forward to the rest of the season.”

With the summer season starting the club always welcomes new members.

Anyone interested can go to: bromsgrovetennisclub.co.uk for more details.