The great escapes at Ladies Late Summer season closes

As the Ladies Late Summer season came to a close there was suddenly hope that both Moorgate A and Moorgate B could put a positive spin on what had been a difficult season due to various long term absences and the high quality of the opposition, particularly in Division 1.

The A team faced two final home matches, in Division 1, against the only two teams that they could conceivably finish ahead of, starting with the visit of Graves A where a narrow defeat for Awema Njalale and Laura Cowan was more than compensated for by an excellent performance from Georgina Taylor and Debbie Johnson who won their first rubber without conceding a game.

In the second round the situation was reversed as Georgina and Debbie lost to the stronger first pair leaving Awema and Laura needing to win and do so by a healthy margin, which they did to leave the match tied at 2-2 but giving Moorgate the win on games countback.

This result left them needing to win their final match and they achieved that without stepping on to court as their final day opponents were unable to raise a team and conceded the match to confirm safety for the team.

In Division 5 Moorgate B travelled to face Graves B knowing that only a win would leave them with an outside chance of avoiding relegation and hard fought wins for Lucy Bows/Carol Himsworth and Helen Lomax/Georgia Muffett, the latter courtesy of a championship tie break set things up for an exciting denouement.

Although Helen and Georgia lost their second match Lucy and Carol dispatched the opposition second pair, losing just three games in the process to give the team a 3-1 win and an anxious wait for other results to come through.

Later that evening they received the news that their other main rivals had been beaten and that they would also avoid relegation.

In the club Summer Championships the Elite Men's Doubles returned to the program after a years absence in a final which saw two of the club's rising talents both partnering more experienced players and after two sets of excellent tennis Dave Mangham and Tristan Walker came out on top against Mark Busby and Max Venables.